Yugioh ZeXal: Lineage
by cypsiman2
Summary: AU/AR. Yuma Tsukumo, Kotori Mizuki, Tetsuo Takeda, Ryouga Kamishiro, Rio Kamishiro, Cathy, and Anna Kozuki; for 13 years they've all lived in the children's paradise known as Heartland City, a bright and colorful place with Augmented Reality duels and dutiful Obots that get rid of all the trash for them. When Yuma Tsukumo releases Astral and the Numbers, everything changes.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's** **Notes: **As promised at the end of my Yugioh 5Ds fic, The Five Driven to Pursue the Future, this is going to be my big Yugioh ZeXal fic. Unlike what I'd promised though, I only have two chapters ready and written at this time instead of five or six, but New Years just seems so appropriate a date to post a new fic that I just have to go ahead and press on. Now then, some things I'd like to say to set the framework for this fic; this story will start off very similarly to the anime, but will branch off in its own direction before long, a direction that will not involve the Barians, the Arclights, or the Tenjos, so no Kaito, no Vector, no Tron, none of that bunch. Second, this story is loosely connected to my 5Ds and GX fics, but reading them is not required to understand anything in this fic. Third, in accordance with the reviews I've gotten, I will be using Exceed Summon and Exceed Monster instead of Xyz Summon and Xyz monster. Finally, I will be pairing off Yuma and Kotori, because I think they are cute and I can't help myself when it comes to cuteness. That said, on with the fic!

* * *

Contract

* * *

"Mom! Dad!" Yuma Tsukumo cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted again into the wind. "Where are you?" He turned in place and looked all around, but everywhere he looked he saw the same endless expanse of brownish-yellow sand, one dune looking pretty much the same as any other. Yuma sighed, rubbed his head where the hot-red bangs spiked back over black hair, and set out into that endless desert. He covered his mouth and held his arm over his eyes, kept count of his steps, kept his steps even, checked the position of the sun overhead, all to make sure he kept straight instead of drifting off and losing his place. "Anyone!" He shouted into the sky. "Is anyone out here?"

"I am here, Yuma Tsukumo." He heard the voice, fuzzy and indistinct, coming from everywhere at once, the wind picking up as whoever it was spoke. "Will you form the contract though The Emperor's Key?"

"The Emperor's Key?" Yuma looked at the pendent he wore, and discovered that aside from it he had nothing else on. Turning the same shade of red as his eyes all over, he huddled down, arms wrapped around his legs as he kept darting his head this way and that.

"Will you form the contract?" The voice said, unfazed by Yuma's state of dress or actions; really, it was hard to describe the voice in any way, male or female, young or old, nothing about it stood out enough to say one way or the other on anything.

"Hold on a second, I have to find my clothes first!" He had been wearing clothes, Yuma was certain on that; really, he had to have been, how could he have gotten lost in the middle of the desert with nothing on…not that he was lost of course, give him a map and he'd point himself out on it right away! Seriously though, where the heck did his clothes go, the sand was getting in his butt!

"Very well." The voice said, and a heavy cloak fell down on top of Yuma; he spun about as he put it on, patting himself down to make sure none of the sand was sticking around to sneak where it would just itch and itch and itch! "Now then, will you form the contract?"

"What contract?" Yuma rubbed his ears. "Speak up!"

"The contract that only you, as bearer of The Emperor's Key, can form." The voice spoke in such a steady and even tone, Yuma wondered if he was being harassed by some sort of automated caller, or something.

"That's not good enough!" The last time Yuma had signed a user-license without reading it all the way through, his sister Akari had left his ears ringing for hours before personally cancelling the agreement herself. "What is this contract you're talking about?"

"The contract is that you…"

"Huh?" The voice kept bugging him out of nowhere, and now it was just drifting off! "I didn't hear that!"

"Yuma Tsukumo, in order to…" Argh, it was doing that thing again! Yuma leaned forward, hoped he was leaning closer to the voice instead of farther, he leaned more, more…

And he fell right out of the hammock that served as his bed up in the attic, right onto his face. Again. "Every time…" Yuma muttered, then looked up at the clock next to the picture of his parents. "The time!" He'd overslept! Every time he had that stupid pointless frustrating annoying dumb little dream, he overslept! He tumbled about, grabbing up his clothes and putting them on just as quickly before he grabbed his deck. His stomach grumbled as he climbed down the rope ladder, he ran through his house, saw his sister in her office and stuck his tongue out at her for not waking him up, again, before running to the front door, out the front door, and…

"Good morning Yuma." There was his grandma, Haru, sweeping the steps. "Glad to see you've decided to greet the day." Oh, her chuckle sounded good natured and matronly, but Yuma knew better, he saw the grip she had on her broom, he'd been on the receiving end of that thing plenty of times already.

"Sorry Grandma, but I'm in a real hurry!" He feinted to his left, ran to the right, and stopped just before his grandma could jab him in the gut with her broom.

"If you have time to sleep half the day away, you have time to observe the niceties of life." She said with narrowed eyes, a pair of trash-collecting Obots passing by.

Yuma groaned. "Come on, I can't afford to be late today!" The Obots scrounged around for a while before moving on.

"You've been able to afford it before." That chuckle of hers took on an evil tint.

"The last two times were a warning, the third time is when they get serious!" The broom remained in his path. "All right, all right…" Yuma muttered under his breath, and he wrapped his arms around his grandma's shoulders. "You have a good day, you hear?"

"And you too dear, and be sure to eat your breakfast along the way." When Yuma let go of her, one of her riceballs had found its way into his hand; like a magician, she would never ever tell him how she did that.

"Bye Grandma!" Yuma shouted as he ran off into the brightly colored and lit Heartland city, bent down low and arms at his sides to maximize his aerodynamics and thus his speed; he had to after all, he had to pump every once of energy he had into his legs, kicking off the ground and sticking little landings over and over again.

"Yo, Yuma!" And there was Tetsuo, riding along on his motorized skateboard, the engine strong enough even for a kid his size.

"What, you sleep in too?" Yuma chided him as his friend caught up with him, taking a quick bite of his grandma's rice ball.

"You wish; angry customer kept screaming his head off that he was cheated on a ring he'd bought." Tetsuo passed him by. "Better speed up before I leave you in the trash with him!"

"In your dreams Tetsuo!" Yuma bobbed and weaved between Obots, even vaulting over one that had wandered right in his path. "Today's going to be different!"

"Sure it will, just like the last forty times!" Tetsuo laughed as he kept ahead of Yuma. "Seriously, just get a board already!"

"That's your way of doing things, not mine!" And his way was about to shine! They were coming up to some steps leading down, Tetsuo couldn't ride, and if he tried to jump, he'd risk breaking his board, so that meant he had to take the long way around, and what was more, Yuma wasn't going to just run down those steps. "Here I go!" He coiled down at the edge of the top of the steps, grabbed the railing, pulled and leaped! He felt the ground pulling him down, but not fast enough to stop him from clearing the steps, not fast enough to keep him from rolling forward so that when he'd hit the ground…Yes! Unlike the last six times he'd tried this, there was no stopping, there was no injury, he just kept on running, and his riceball was still intact to boot! He just rolled right past an Obot that spun out of his way, went around the corner, and…

"Keep at it Yuma!" He heard Kotori's voice, saw her standing at the gate to Heartland Middle School, and felt himself being pulled to her waving hand.

"You got it!" Yuma felt his body burning and his lungs screaming, but the taste of his imminent victory was sweet enough to distract him from all that. Closer, closer, closer still, almost there…

"Not today Yuma!" Damn it, Tetsuo was going to ruin everything! Yuma glanced back, saw Tetsuo speeding in ever closer, Yuma forced his legs to go just a little fast, he stuck his head out as far as he could, he'd win by a nose if he had to, and…

He and Tetsuo collided right into one another right as they hit the gateway, Tetsuo's board flew off into the distance while he crashed onto Yuma, knocking the wind out of him. "I'm sure they're nice guys and all," Yuma looked up and saw Sachi, one of Kotori's friends, standing over him and Tetsuo, "but I don't think even you can fix these two." That was Sachi for you, always putting him and Tetsuo down, nothing could ever convince her that they were good enough to be friends with Kotori.

"Then it sure is a good thing I'm not trying to fix them, now isn't it?" And that was just like Kotori, bringing him up and putting him down in the exact same motion; really, couldn't she just once say that he and Tetsuo didn't need fixing? "You guys okay there?" She was leaning over them both.

"The worst bruises are on the ego." Tetsuo lifted himself off of Yuma, and Yuma took in a deep exaggerated breath.

"Speak for yourself." Yuma groaned, saw Kotori extend her hand to him.

"Come on Yuma, no sense in being late after all you just went through."

"Right!" Yuma beamed as he took Kotori's hand, felt warmth surge and renew in his exhausted body. Then he looked down at the smashed remains of his grandma's rice ball on the ground; it didn't last long, an obot was already on the scene, scooping the mess up. "Oh man." Yuma took hold his stomach, unable to distract himself any longer.

"Here you go." Kotori took out a rice ball from her lunch box; yeah, it wasn't as big, or as nicely packed, and probably wasn't as tasty either…

"Thanks Kotori, you're a real life saver!" Yuma munched down on it on the spot.

"That would mean a lot more if I didn't hear it all the time."

"You're telling me!" They laughed together, Tetsuo and Kotori.

"Yeah yeah." Yuma swallowed the last of Kotori's rice ball. "Yuk it up while you can guys, you won't be able to much longer." Yuma smiled with his friends, and with that the three of them walked the rest of the way to class.

* * *

"Time. Is. Up, Yuma Tsukumo." Mrs. Jordan, the English Teacher, was standing over Yuma as he looked down at his D-Pad, his test only half-finished. "Tell me Yuma, do you enjoy squandering your time?" Yuma withered under his teacher's glare, subconsciously gripped The Emperor's Key. "Or do you find fiddling with your jewelry more important than learning how to understand another language?" Yuma groaned, and he knew that was going to cost him, but he couldn't help it; English was the stupidest anyone had ever made up in the history of people making up things! It was all…blagh, it was dumb and it made no sense on any level, the worst of it being the silent letters; seriously, silent letters! What was the point of putting a letter into a word if you weren't going to say it! "Well! If that's the attitude you're going to take, then I ought to confiscate that jewelry of yours so you can learn to focus on what really matters!"

"Whoa!" Yuma leaned away in his chair, and bumped right into Kotori, who frowned harshly at him, not that he blamed her of course.

"Mrs. Jordan, I'm sure that if you have Yuma do a retake after school, he'll show you that he really does pay attention." Yuma followed Kotori's lead, and gave the best focused, stern, studious expression he could muster.

"Fine." Mrs. Jordan said, looking at Kotori. "If he fails that test as well though, I will confiscate the item in question." She moved back to her podium and went over everyone else's tests.

Yuma sighed in relief. "Thanks Kotori." Yeah, he wasn't out of the water yet, but at least he still had The Emperor's Key.

"You'd do the same if someone tried to take my ribbon." Damn straight he would! He gave that to her years ago; he'd just gotten back from a camping trip with his family, and learned that Kotori was sick in the hospital, and even though she'd hugged him so hard that he had to yell at everyone to stop laughing, he still grinned to himself whenever he thought about it, even if Tetsuo just rolled his eyes at him every time; what did he know anyway?

Of course, once class was over and he had to prep for his retake, nothing was going to get him grinning again; again, English was the dumbest dumb thing that was ever dumb in the history of being dumb! Prepositional phrases, he'd duel whoever came up with the rules for those a hundred thousand times until they'd gotten in their heads how dumb they were being! "Begin!" But for now he'd just bite the bullet and put every last brain cell he had through its paces; no matter how stupidly the questions were written, no matter how annoying the topic, no matter how irritating the rules for how he had to write his answers down were, he wasn't going to let his parents down!

His hands danced across the keys of his D-Pad, his eyes flitted across arcane symbols, his nostrils flared to make sure he got all the oxygen he could hold and use. "Finished!" Yuma leaned back in his chair, spent down to the bone.

"Well, you managed to win against the clock." Mrs. Jordan picked up his D-Pad. "Now to see if you managed to win against the test." He watched her eyes slowly scanning their way across his answers, a twitch every time she'd found a mistake; one, two, three, four…Okay, he was prepared, he was going to come up with something, anything to keep from losing The Emperor's Key! "Well Yuma," Mrs. Jordan put the D-Pad back down in front of him and smiled, "it seems you can focus and apply yourself, so from now on I'm going to be expecting you to do this the first time around from now on, you got that?"

"Got it!" Yuma leaped out of his chair, scooped up his D-Pad, and ran out the classroom door, only to see Kotori just outside, leaning back against the wall.

"About time you got out Yuma; I take it you passed the retake?"

"Yep!" Now that he thought about it though, he didn't know exactly how well he did, but it was good enough for Mrs. Jordan and so it was good enough for him. "But what are you still doing here?"

"Computer club, remember?" She said as she pointed to her D-Pad.

"Right, right." She'd joined it right away, first day of the school year. "I suppose Takashi kept bugging you about that rematch he's been wanting?" Yuma snickered while Kotori puffed her cheeks out.

"Honestly, if I was the one who'd gotten second place in that stupid contest, you wouldn't hear me demanding a rematch." She walked, Yuma followed.

"Let's see, how did he put it?" Yuma scrunched his face up, put his hand up with his finger and thumb extended out, and spoke in a high, nasal whine. "To summarize, it defies all logic and reason that the program that I'd spent months developing could have ever been bested by what you'd managed to cobble together on such short notice."

"He does not talk that way and you know it!" She raised her hand as though to whap the back of his head, but put it back down and chuckled. "In all seriousness though, you should join the Computer club, we could really help you with your studies that way."

"Nah, I just can't get fired up about computers like you do." Sure, he used them all the time, but thinking about how they worked just made his head spin. Then the two of them passed through the front door and into the courtyard, where many of their classmates were squared off with one another, D-Gazers and D-Pads in place. Yuma and Kotori put their D-Gazers on, making sure they were properly fitted over both eyes, and turned them on to make everything even brighter and more colorful than before. "Now this is what fires me up!" Now they could see it, the Augmented Reality of all the duels taking place before them, monsters of all shapes and sizes and descriptions, taking turns to shoot and stab and bite and punch and blast and kick and…Duel Monsters was just the greatest game ever!

"Now let's see…" Kotori tapped on the side of her D-Gazer. "Ah, good, he's still here; Tetsuo said he'd stick around until you'd finished your retake; he's just around the corner over that way." She pointed to the far end of the courtyard.

"That's good." Yuma grinned, thrust his fist out, "after all that, I'm definitely taking down Tetsuo today!" He took off, and Kotori followed behind; they weaved their way around the duels taking place all around them, bobbed around some Obots at the corner and… "No way!" Tetsuo was there, and he was dueling all right, but he was dueling freaking Ryouga "Shark" Kamishiro himself! Shark had a set card and three monsters on the field; one was Submersible Carrier Aero Shark, a pair of sharks harnessed together in a metal frame with a single shining orb orbiting them, another was Mermail Abyssturge, a half-sturgeon half woman in really shiny purplish armor, and the third was Mermail Abyssdine, a half sea angel, half girl. On Tetsuo's side of the field was nothing at all.

"On the third turn," Kotori said, reading off an augmented reality window that appeared right in front of her, "Shark had used Abyssdine and Abysslinde to Exceed summon Aero Shark, and then he detached Abyssdine to inflict 2000 damage to Tetsuo; following that he used Abyssturge to bring back Abyssdine and destroy Tetsuo's face-down card, and once he equipped Abyssturge with Abyss-scale of the Cetus, he was able to attack and destroy Tetsuo's Soul of Silvermountain, equipped with Lucky Iron Axe, and his defense position Geargiano and strike directly." For someone who never dueled herself, Kotori definitely didn't have a problem following them; then again, she did spend a lot of her time with him and Tetsuo, so something had to rub off on her.

"Turn 4, Tetsuo Takeda: 800 life points, Ryouga Kamishiro: 3200 life points."

"All right Shark, no holding back!" Tetsuo snarled as he drew his card forcefully. "I summon Geargiarmor and then special summon Geargiaccelerator, giving me two level 4 machine monster that I can overlay to Exceed summon Gear Gigant X!" Tetsuo's monsters, a robot with massive arm shields and a race car, turned into orange spheres of light and entered a glowing crimson spiral, and following an explosion of light, a big honkin robot with a giant gear strapped onto its back appeared on Tetsuo's side of the field, two glowing orbs orbiting around it. "Now I detach Geargiaccelerator and add Geargiattacker from my deck to my hand, and then I equip my monster with Gravity Blaster!" A massive cannon floated in the air before Tetsuo's monster. "Now, once per turn I can increase my monster's attack power by 400, permanently!" Energy gathered in the barrel of the cannon. "You see that Shark? I just summoned a monster that's more powerful than anything you've got, and it's just going to keep getting stronger!"

"Cute." Shark smirked at Tetsuo. "Of course, even with all that, you're not going to win."

"We'll see about that!" Tetsuo swept his arm out. "Gear Gigant X, attack and destroy Aero Shark!" Tetsuo's monster lined up the shot, charged the energy banks…

"And after the trouble you went through on your last turn to keep me from activating this card." Shark chuckled. "Trap card activate Poseidon Wave!" The Greek god of the seas appeared as an aura around Shark, and a tidal wave emanated from him. "I negate your attack and inflict 800 points of damage for each Fish, Sea-Serpent, or Aqua monster I control, and that means 2400 damage." The wave came down on Tetsuo like a hammer, knocking him down, washing his monsters and his life points away. "Of course, if you hadn't attacked, Aero Shark would have finished you off next turn with its effect; a duelist of your level never stood a chance against me." Shark walked up to Tetsuo, taking off his D-Gazer, Yuma and Kotori followed suit.

"This isn't the end Shark." Tetsuo pounded his fist on the ground, looked up at Shark. "You're going to swallow those words, count on it!"

"That's going to be hard to do without a deck." Huh? "Now hand it over, or does your pride mean you don't have to keep your word?" Yuma heard snickering from behind Shark, and only then did he notice the toughs standing behind him; one had poofy hair, the other spiky, but they both had the same nasty expressions on their faces, expressions that said that even though they were way smaller than Tetsuo they didn't care.

"Hold on!" Yuma interposed himself between Tetsuo and Shark while Kotori helped Tetsuo up. "What's going on, what do you mean you're taking Tetsuo's deck?"

"That was what we'd agreed on Yuma." Tetsuo said, gripping his shoulder. "If I'd won, he'd be handing his deck over to me."

"Not that there was any chance of that outcome of course." Shark looked past Yuma at Tetsuo. "You should have listened to me and accepted your place."

"Hey!" Yuma yelled in Shark's face, forcing him to look at him. "Whatever's going on here, I'm not letting you take Tetsuo's deck, 'cause a whole bunch of his cards, he got from me!" The same went the other way around, they'd been trading cards for years.

Shark blinked. "That's right, you're Yuma…" he smirked, "the worst duelist in all of Heartland City; didn't you get your ass kicked by a first grader the other day?"

Yuma cocked a smile. "You heard right, and that Ai kid was really something; really close match, I'd bet good money that she grows up to be Grand Duel Champion or something."

"Would you listen to this guy? Who brags about being beaten by a newb?" The poofy haired toady snickered.

"Yeah, sucking as bad as he does, it's given him brain damage!" The pointy haired lackey guffawed.

Shark frowned, breathed out through his nostrils. "In any event, you don't have any claim on the cards you gave him, so when he puts his next deck together, don't give him so many millstones."

"Fine, double or nothing!" Yuma thrust his thumb against his chest. "I'm going to be Duel Champion one day, and if I can't win Tetsuo's deck back, then you get to keep mine."

Shark's frown deepened, creating deep ugly lines on his face. "You think your stupid infantile dream is worth anything to me? You think your weak-ass deck has any value at all? You think you have anything I don't already have in abundance?" Without meaning to, Yuma glanced down at The Emperor's Key, and Shark noticed. "Well, this bauble of yours might do the trick."

"Don't you even!" Yuma pulled his arms back to shove Shark away, but his cronies had grabbed them and pulled back around his back. Shark grabbed hold of The Emperor's Key, Kotori and Tetsuo took a half step forward before one of Shark's goons twisted Yuma's arm. They stopped, they all watched Shark tear The Emperor's Key off its cord.

"So what cheap pawn shop pawned this off on you anyway?" He looked it over in his hand, dropped it to the ground. He put his foot over it.

"Stop that, right now!" Kotori said, eyes drawn wide and expression taut. "You're wrong, that was a gift from his parents, you have no idea what its worth!"

"And neither does he!" He brought his foot down, Yuma felt his stomach lurch and his heart stop as The Emperor's Key broke in half, his breath caught in his throat as Shark ground his foot in, he fell to his knees as Shark's goons released his arms. "Come back tomorrow with the best deck you can cobble together; I want something worthwhile to show for beating you." Yuma's vision blurred as he took in the broken shards of the treasure his parents had entrusted him with. He heard the shuffling of feet, the electronic motors of some Obots, closed his eyes to squeeze out the tears.

"Here you go Yuma." He opened his eyes, saw Kotori and Tetsuo standing over him, each with half of The Emperor's Key, more or less. "I'm really sorry, I shouldn't have let him goad like that, I really shouldn't; I just…" Tetsuo clenched his eyes shut, looked away.

Yuma shook his head. "It's not your fault." He picked himself back up, Tetsuo put his half of the key in Yuma's hands. "Things just got…out of hand."

"It was that jerkface Shark who was out of hand." Kotori put her half of the key in his hand; the touch lingered, did nothing for his mood. "Whatever his problem was, you're going to make it ten times worse for him, right Yuma?"

"R-right." He spoke in a small, choked voice as he felt the cold gold fragments in his hand. "I'll, I'll see you guys tomorrow, ok?"

They nodded, he walked away.

* * *

"Yuma!" He heard his sister yell out from her office, and what hope he had of being able to slink off into his room died a quiet death. "Could you come here a minute, I've got something to show you." Of course, there was no way he could keep this hidden from her for long, and then Yuma noticed that she sounded happy, cheerful; feeling all of three inches tall he made his way into her office. "What do you think?" He saw a half dozen holographic windows being projected from Akari's monitor, displaying pictures of their parents overlaid on maps of different regions of the world, each picture put on top of the ruin that it had been taken at; if that wasn't enough, there were arrows pointing from one photo to the next, showing the order of their adventures, with notes and annotations and…damn, that last picture in Egypt, that was the one he'd kept in his room, it was the one of them holding… "So what do you think little brother?" Akari swiveled around in her chair. "I'm going to show this to Grandma and her friends at her party next week, and I figured I'd give you a sneak peek." He averted his eyes, caught her getting up out of the corner of his eyes, she walked up to him. "Yuma, what's the matter?" She looked down at him, he felt her eyes settle on his chest. "Where's The Emperor's Key? Talk to me Yuma, I'm right here." Yuma breathed in through tight clenched teeth, remembered what it was like to rip a bandage off.

"Akari, I'm sorry." He took out the fragments of The Emperor's Key from his pocket, held them out to Akari. He looked up, saw her white hot glare with their father's eyes.

"What the hell happened Yuma, how could you break The Emperor's Key after everything Mom and Dad went through to find it, what were you thinking? You weren't, were you, you got into some stupid hair-brained contest with Tetsuo or were showing off in front of Kotori and dropped it in the middle of a crowd where it got stepped on, didn't you?" Her arms were crossed across her chest.

"No, that's not what happened!" Yuma felt the knots in his stomach get knots of their own. "There was this jerk, Shark, he was going to take Tetsuo's deck, and I tried to stop him, and I challenged him to a duel and he took The Emperor's Key, and he broke it." She was still looking down at him, but it wasn't as intense as before.

"If I were Dad, I'd be telling you how proud I was of you for standing up for your friend, and if I were Mom, I'd be wondering what was going on in that other kid's life to make him act out like that, but I'm not either of them, so you know what I'm going to do?" Make use of her karate black-belt on his hide. "When I get my next paycheck in, I'm taking the pieces to a goldsmith and see if he can't put it back together like brand new."

"What?" Yuma felt like he'd just been dunked into a giant bowl of tapioca pudding and was told to swim out of it. "You're not going to punish me?"

"Be honest Yuma, do you think I could do anything to make you feel worse than you already do?" Yuma didn't think anyone had an imagination that good. "So, let me guess, you're still going to be dueling that Shark kid, right?" Yuma nodded. "Do yourself a favor and make sure you use your Exceed monsters, you got that?"

"I don't need those cards to beat him." Yuma said as he did not pout; seriously, what was the point of becoming champion if you just used the most powerful cards around? Anyone could do that!

"Yes, you do; I've heard of this Shark guy, he's won tons of tournaments and was a favorite in the Nationals. When it's just you and your friends, you can handicap yourself all you want, but you hold back here and you're going to regret it for a long time to come."

"What do you care? Aren't you always telling me I'm wasting my life with Duel Monsters?"

Akari sighed, patted Yuma on the head. "It's because Shark needs to learn what happens when he messes with my little brother, and you're old enough to teach him that yourself. Now come on, let's get started on dinner." She walked out of her office, Yuma followed after her.

* * *

"Mom! Dad! Where are you!?" Yuma was in the desert again, shouting into the wind again. "Which way did you go?" He looked from horizon to horizon, but found no tracks, no distinction between one dune and the next, each grain of sand just like any other. "Anyone, is anyone out there?"

"I am here, Yuma Tsukumo." It was that voice, the one that always spoke to him in the dream, but…something about it was clearer, there wasn't that annoying fuzz and static and junk that made it hard to listen to; he still couldn't describe the voice beyond it being a voice, but he didn't have to strain to listen as it spoke to him from everywhere at once. "Will you form the contract with me, bearer of The Emperor's Key?"

Yuma sighed. "Even if I had any idea what you were talking about, it's no good; the key's been broken."

"That is immaterial; upon formation of the contract, The Emperor's Key will be repaired."

"Whoa, are you serious?" Yuma could see their faces, his parents, his sister and grandma, Kotori and Tetsuo, and Shark's…he saw the smug look on his face getting wiped clean in no time at all. Yuma steadied himself, cleared his throat. "So what is this contract you've been bugging me about anyway?"

"If you accept the contract, you will face terrible ordeals." Ordeals? Like, adventures and stuff? "Should you pass these ordeals, you will obtain a power that has not been realized in over three thousand years." Power? Like a genie's wish or something like that? "Should you fail, your hopes and dreams will fall into ruin." His hopes and dreams were about becoming Duel Champion, so if he failed, he'd never become champion. "You will have one year to fulfill the contract. These terms are immutable. Do you accept them, Yuma Tsukumo?"

"Let me make sure I've got this right; I accept the contract, you'll fix The Emperor's Key, I pass your tests or ordeals or whatever, and then I become Duel Champion."

"That is one possible outcome, if you so choose. Will you form the contract?"

"All right, a deal's I deal, I form the contract!" The wind screamed around Yuma, kicking up the sand around him into some sort of shell. The fragments of The Emperor's Key flew out of Yuma's coat pocket and joined with the sand; it all spun around him, faster and faster and faster and boom! There was an explosion of light, and when Yuma's eyes cleared up, The Emperor's Key was floating in the air before him.

"I have fulfilled my obligations; you are now bound to the contract Yuma Tsumuko, you cannot run from your obligations." The voice faded, as did the desert; all that remained was Yuma and the Key. He reached out and grabbed it, and found himself back in the attic, back in his hammock, The Emperor's Key repaired and whole.

"Yes!" Yuma covered his mouth, it was five in the morning according to the clock, the earliest he'd ever gotten up before, so his sis and grandma were probably still asleep. Yuma looked at the picture of his parents. "Sorry Mom and Dad, I promise I'll never scare you like that again." Yuma put on The Emperor's Key, went over to his desk, and went over his deck; he'd spent years on it, trying out new things while believing that he didn't need to jam in overpowered cards to get by, that if he just kept at it he'd be able to win in a way that no one but him would ever see coming.

"You should use your Exceed monsters." Akari's voice rang in his head really loud, and it echoed in a weird way too. Yuma looked over at the black boardered Exceed monsters he kept separate from the rest of his deck. He wanted to ignore that voice, wanted to show everyone that he didn't need them to pull through, but…

"That voice from my dream…" Just this once, just this one time with Tetsuo's deck on the line along with his own, but this would be it; after this point, he was going to win things his way, no matter what.

* * *

"Seriously, Akari managed to find someone to fix it that quickly?" Kotori said, skipping like she was about to jump out of her skin, almost hopping right into an Obot.

"Yep, that's my sister for you!" Like Yuma was going to tell his friends that a mystery voice in a dream had done the trick; the hard part was getting out of the house without Akari or Grandma spotting the fully restored Key in his pocket, and after that he had to come up with a story that would get past them on how the Key got fixed so quickly.

"And that's Shark." Tetsuo said as they'd arrived at the place they'd said they would, the colorful splendor of the city casting Shark in shadow, Shark's bootlicker's looking like they were going to make good on those titles any moment now. "I hope you like these apples Shark, 'cause Yuma's going to bury you in them."

Shark focused his eyes on The Emperor's Key. "Tch, so you replaced the cheap fake with another copy, big deal." Yuma thought that Shark's eyes had this weird, wary look in them, but it was over so quickly he figured he'd imagined the whole thing.

"Shark, its fixed now, so let's just let it slide, okay?"

"So long as you remember to hand over your deck after the duel." Shark put on his D-Gazer, turning the whites of his eyes the same dark shade of blue as his irises.

"Only if I lose Shark; I win, you give Tetsuo his deck back." Yuma and everyone else put on their D-Gazers. Shark and Yuma strapped their D-Pads to their arms, arming them into their duel settings.

"Duel Link established." All the people and all the Obots who wasn't part of the duel or witness to the duel was erased from sight, and they in turn would be the only ones who would see, hear, and feel the Augmented Reality overlaying itself over everything.

"All right Yuma, now kick his butt into next week!" Kotori shouted, waving her arm all over the place.

Yuma grinned as he drew his card. "You know I will, and I start by summoning Dododo Warrior without sacrifice, reducing its attack power to 1800." Yuma's monster dropped onto the field, a stocky warrior with a horned helmet, massive shield, and a gigantic battleaxe. "Your move, Shark!"

"Turn 2, Yuma Tsukumo: 4000 life points, Ryouga Kamishiro: 4000 life points."

"My move…are you such an idiot that you think an over leveled weakling like that will be anything more than a speed bump to me?" Shark drew his card, flashed his teeth at Yuma. "I start by summoning Atlantean Heavy Infantry." A hideous fish-man thing appeared, two halves of a massive shield strapped to its arms, and…zero attack?! "A stubborn fool like you would be confused, so let me see if I can't get through that thick skull of yours; Atlantean Heavy Infantry's effect let's me perform an additional normal summon once per turn, so long as I'm summoning a level 4 or lower Sea Serpent monster, and as Atlantean Attack Squad is a level 3 Sea Serpent, it qualifies." Shark's monster let out a geyser of water from its mouth, and riding that wave was another fish-man, only this one had a sword and shield in hand. "Normally it only has 1400 attack points, but when I control another Fish, Sea Serpent, or Aqua monster, Atlantean Attack Squad gains 800 attack points." Yuma shivered all over as Shark's monster swelled with strength to 2200 attack points; sure, Dododo Warrior was going to be destroyed, but Shark's technique, that was the sort of thing he wanted to pull off, and he would do it too! "Battle!"

And then his monster was destroyed for 400 points of damage, releasing a pressure wave that pushed Yuma back. "Man, you really were a favorite at the Nationals, weren't you?"

"Are you kidding? Are you really impressed by that? This is the skill that won in my neighborhood tournament." Shark's goons snickered. "Now I set one card and end my turn."

"Turn 3, Yuma Tsukumo: 3600 life points, Ryouga Kamishiro: 4000 life points."

"My turn!" Yuma spun as he drew his card. "Okay, try this on for size; I summon Tasuke Knight!" A tall, broadly built warrior in face-concealing red armor appeared, hands bare with a sword strapped to its back and 1700 attack points. "Now when I destroy your Atlantean Heavy Infantry, your Attack Squad's attack power will go back down to 1400! Tasuke Knight, attack!" Tasuke Knight spread its legs like a sumo wrestler and shuffled forward, thrusting its palms to build up strength for its final strike.

"Naïve! Trap card activate, Escape Lure!" A ball of light appeared in front of Tasuke Knight. "When my opponent declares an attack, I can change the target of that attack to a different monster, but the battle damage from that attack is cut in half." The ball of light floated towards Atlantean Attack Squad, and Tasuke Knight followed. "Thus, you'll only take 250 points of damage from your mistake!" Shark's monster gutted Yuma's. Yuma was forced back another step from the pressure. "Have I gotten through your thick skull yet? Someone as incompetent and delusional as you has no right talking about becoming Duel Champion, you have no clue what it takes!"

"Maybe I don't know what it takes, but I'm not going to find out by sitting down, being quiet, and giving up! Every screw-up, every mistake I make is a lesson I learn from, and that's not something you can ever take from me! I set two cards and end my turn."

"Turn 4, Yuma Tsukumo: 3350 life points, Ryouga Kamishiro: 4000 life points."

"Hmph, looks like I need to take off the kid gloves with you." Ryouga drew his card. "Now you're going to see the skills that I used to win in the regionals! I activate the permanent spell card, Amulet of the Water Deity!" The emblem of the god of the seas appeared in the air over Shark. "This card will remain on the field until your third end phase, and while it is on the field Water monsters I control can't be destroyed by my opponent's card effects! Even you should understand that this means that your face-down cards are meaningless to me!" Shark pointed to Atlantean Heavy Infantry, "I switch Heavy Infantry to defense," Shark's monster brought both halves of its shield together, protecting its entire body, "and with its effect I will summon both Mermail Abyssgunde and Atlantean Marksman!" Abyssgunde was half woman, half clownfish, while Marksman peeked out from behind some rocks that had appeared with it, a strange harpoon-rifle weapon in its arms. "Now, Atlantean Attack Squad, attack directly." Shark's monster readied its grip on its sword…

"Not so fast!" Yuma thrust his arm out. "I activate my trap card, Nitwit Outwit, and discard Flelf from my hand to reduce your monster's attack power by its attack power!" An elf concealing its face with its royal blue cape appeared on top of Attack Squad's head; it stabbed it once in each arm with its thin sword, dropping its attack power by 800 down to 1400. Shark's monster shook off the injury and advanced on Yuma. "And now that its in the grave, I activate my other trap card, Pinpoint Guard, special summoning Flelf back from the grave in defense position, and this turn it can't be destroyed by battle or by card effects!" Flelf back-flipped off of Shark's monster's head and parried its attack, refusing to give any ground to it.

Shark chuckled. "Let me guess, you think I'm vulnerable now? You think you've poked a hole in my defenses?" Shark frowned. "Witness it Yuma, the skill that earned me the right to enter the Nationals! I overlay Mermail Abyssgunde, Atlantean Attack Squad, and Atlantean Marksman!" All three monsters turned into dark blue balls of energy, and together they flew into a spiraling crimson energy field. "With this, I Exceed summon Shark Caesar!" Yuma braced himself for the explosion of light, and what appeared was a twisted creature; it was a purple and gold shark, but its eye-sockets were empty, and extending out from its head was a second smaller head with tiny eyes that glowed with the same light as the three orbiting Exceed materials. "And now, by detaching Attack Squad, I activate its effect to place one Shark Counter on itself." The second head reached out and consumed one of orbs of light, and Shark Caesar's fangs grew longer and sharper. "When Shark Caesar attacks or is attacked, it will gain 1000 attack points for every Shark counter on it; so go ahead, take your turn, sacrifice that cheap monster or overlay it, you won't be able to summon anything that can surpass my monster."

"Turn 5, Yuma Tsukumo: 3350 life points, Ryouga Kamishiro: 4000 life points."

Yuma drew his card, grinned. "Sorry Shark, but I'm not giving up Flelf, not when its about to kick your monster's scaly butt! First up, I'm showing Flelf's little friend, Kurivolt, activating Flelf's effect to increase its level by Kurivolt's." Flelf stood at attention, holding its sword up high as its level increased from 2 to 3. "Next, I summon Kurivolt." A bundle of electricity crackled in front of Yuma's face, and out popped a little black ball with circuit lines and big yellow-purple eyes. "Kurivolt's effect lets detach an Exceed material from an Exceed monster and special summon another Kurivolt from my deck, so I'll go ahead and remove both your remaining materials from your monster to special summon both Kurivolts in my deck in defense position!" Twin bolts of electricity arced out from Kurivolt and into the Exceed materials orbiting Shark Caesar, transforming them into the Kurivolts that bundled themselves up on Yuma's side of the field, eyes shut tight.

"So what?" Shark shrugged. "Even without the rest of its Exceed materials, your Flelf is still going to die next turn."

"I'm not done yet Shark! First, I equip Flelf with Bound Wand, increasing its attack power by 100 times its level!" Flef exposed its other arm, grasped the ruby-capped double-skull-headed wand presented to it, increasing its attack power to 1100. "And finally, I activate Mini-Guts, and sacrifice my attack position Kurivolt to reduce Shark Caesar's attack power to zero!"

"What?!" Shark's eyes twitched as the first Kurivolt shot itself into Shark Caesar's body and drained all the energy from it, causing it to collapse onto the ground.

"Flelf, attack Shark Caesar!" Flef assumed a reverse grip with both weapons and dashed across the field to Shark's monster; Shark Caesar's second head roared, the Shark Counter granting it 1000 attack points, but Flelf was stronger yet, just strong enough to block with the Bound Wand and embed its blade deep into the monster's body, destroying it for 100 points of battle damage. "And then, when the monster targeted by Mini-Guts is destroyed by battle and sent to the grave, you take damage equal to its original attack power!" Explosions rocked Shark's body, forcing him onto his back. "How do you like that Shark? I just beat your Exceed monster with nothing but my own skills! I end my turn, and Flelf's level returns back to 2!" Flelf leaped back to Yuma's side of the field, strength diminished only slightly.

"Turn 6, Yuma Tsukumo: 3350 life points, Ryouga Kamishiro: 2100 life points."

"Impossible…" Shark muttered, hand over his face. "Not possible…" He got to his feet, hunched over. "Not again…" Shark removed his hand from his face and…had something happened to his D-Gazer? There was a weird purple glow in his pupils that wasn't there before. "You!" Shark roared, swept his arm out. "You won't get away with this again!" Yuma couldn't find his voice, he watched Shark draw his card. "I summon Genex Undine." Water bubbled up from the gaps in the pavement, and a strange translucent robotic thing appeared before Shark. "When I summon this monster, I can send a Water monster from my deck to the grave to add Genex Controller from my deck to my hand; furthermore, as the Water monster I've chosen is Atlantean Dragoons, I activate its effect, and add a Sea Serpant, Spined Gillman, from my deck to my hand!" Genex Undine created a huge whirlpool that pulled the Atlantean Dragoons in their golden armor from the deck to the grave, and rushing out from the eye came Controller and Gillman. "Then, I activate Allure of Darkness, drawing two cards and banishing the Dark attribute Genex Controller in my hand!" A pit of darkness appeared in the sky; it blotted out the sun, and even after it absorbed Genex Controller, it remained in the air, casting shadow upon shadow. "Now I summon Spined Gillman, and overlay it with Genex Undine." Lights appeared within the darkness in the sky, a spiral like the milky way, and the blue lights that were once Shark's monsters entered it. "Exceed summon!" An explosion of prismatic light showered everything, and where the darkness once was, there was an alien crystal structure.

"What the?!" Yuma gaped as the thing unfolded, unfurling flowing blue wings that were just…wrong, somehow, the whole thing becoming a vicious six winged dragon with 2000 attack points.

A heartbeat echoed in the air, and a stylized 17 appeared on Shark's right fist. "Number 17, Leviathan Dragon." Shark's grin exposed his teeth. "Once per turn, by detaching an Exceed unit, I increase its attack power by 500; thus, I detach Spined Gillman." One orb got too close to the monsters mouth, and so Leviathan Dragon ate it; Yuma saw himself being eaten by that dragon, checked his heart to make sure it was still beating. "Battle! Leviathan Dragon, kill that absurd weakling Flelf!" Leviathan Dragon's blazing blue breath burned right through Flelf, enveloping Yuma with practically all its original power.

"Aaagh!" Yuma screamed as every nerve in his body burned down to the core, he twitched all over in the wake of Shark's attack. What just happened? No matter how realistic and intense a duel got, it wasn't supposed to actually hurt!

"Good, that's where a pathetic scrub like you belongs, and that's where I'm going to be keeping you from now on Yuma!" Shark cackled, he freaking cackled!

"What's going on, what's happened to you Shark?" He might have been the biggest jerk in the world, but this went way beyond that!

"He is possessed by Number 17." Oh, that made sense, he guessed; it was a weird enough monster that he'd buy that. Then he looked over at where the voice had come from, and almost screamed his head off at the sight of the strange, floating, glowing, blue, naked, spirit…alien…

"What are you?!" The…the thing looked down at him; one eye was golden, the other was washed out in the soft light that covered the whole right half of its body.

"I am Astral," it said as though that was everything there was to say, as though emotion was something it had never heard of before, "and you must recover the Number for me."

"What are you talking…where are you…how do you know…why is…"

"Yuma, get your head back in the game!" Kotori's voice pulled his attention back to her and Tetsuo.

Oh no; he'd lost it. Shark's attack had broken his tiny little mind, and now he was seeing things. "I'll deal with you later." Yuma muttered to the absolutely, positively, definitely, totally not-real figment of his overactive imagination! "When a monster is destroyed and sent to the grave, while Bound Wand is equipped to it, I can special summon that monster back to the field!" Flelf revived in defense position, eyes tracking Number 17 warily.

"Ha, so the scum continues to struggle; why not? My prey should amuse me above all else! I activate Salvage, to add Spined Gillman and Atlantean Attack Squad back to my hand, and end my turn!"

"Turn 7, Yuma Tsukumo: 1850 life points, Ryouga Kamishiro: 2100 life points."

"My turn!" Yuma drew his card, he had to end this right away, he had to make that monster go away and get everything back to normal!

"At present, there is no method by which you might summon a Number of your own." A Number of his own? What the… "Therefore, set your card, and keep all your monsters in defense for the time being."

Yuma snarled at the spirit. "Shark, I'm going to beat that thing, no matter what!" He had one card in his hand, one option, and he was going to take it! "I activate my spell card, Leveleft Gift, sacrificing Flelf to increase the level of both my other monsters by its levels, or in other words, my two Kurivolts are going to increase to level 3!" Flelf vanished, and the two Kurivolts chirped sadly at its passing. Yuma inhaled sharply through his nostrils, braced himself. "I now overlay both my level 3 Kurivolts!" Yuma's monsters turned into golden balls of light, spinning off to join the crimson spiral. "I Exceed summon String Devil Muzumuzu Rhythm!" The spiral exploded, and from that explosion came a tiny devil with a hat, a rose hanging from an unseen mouth, and a guitar with two necks.

"This will not work." Stupid thing, he was ignoring it, so why didn't it shut up already?!

"I attack with Muzumuzu Rhythm and activate its effect, detaching one Kurivolt to double its attack power!" One orb of light joined with Muzumuzu's guitar, and it strummed up a storm that resonated with itself, harmony upon harmony that increased in strength with each passing moment, raising its attack power from 1500 to 3000. "Take this Shark!" The sound waves hammered Number 17, and before Yuma knew it…it was still there?

"The chosen can't be touched by the common scum of the Earth; similarly, a Number monster can't be destroyed in battle except by another monster, and with Amulet of the Sea Deity still in play, that means you have no way of destroying my glorious monster!" Shark laughed uproariously. "How does it feel to be on the receiving end, worm?"

"I don't know what you're talking about Shark!" Damn it, he wasn't making a lick of sense…he was possessed, wasn't he? Astral was right, and if it was right, that meant it was real.

"Listen to me." Astral spoke, Yuma looked at it, at how it crossed its arms, at how its whole body shimmered. "If we are to overcome this ordeal, you must do as I tell you."

"Ordeal?" The memories rushed through Yuma's mind, and his head became so hot he could barely see his hand in front of his face. "You liar! You never mentioned anything about innocent people getting involved in this!" Okay, Shark was less innocent than most, but that didn't mean he'd wanted the guy possessed by an unkillable monster not of this Earth!

"You are not making any sense; I spoke the truth about the Number, and of my need for it. At what point did I lie?"

"In my dreams you lousy jerk, you kept showing up in my dreams and kept bugging me about your stupid contract!"

"In your dreams?" Astral looked off into the distance. "Is it possible for an intelligent being to enter into another's subconscious? Hmm…" This guy wasn't for real, no one could be like that and be for real.

"Are you done yet scum? Or do you want to run off into your cramped little mind some more?" An aura of darkness spread out from Shark's body, it spilled out on the ground around him.

Duel first, stupid dumb spirit later! "Yeah, I'm done!" Really, he didn't have any cards left, he couldn't help being done.

"Turn 8, Yuma Tsukumo: 1850 life points, Ryouga Kamishiro: 1600 life points."

"Good, because this is only going to get worse for you!" Shark drew his card. "I summon Spined Gillman and Atlantean Attack Squad, and then I detach Genex Undine to increase Number 17's attack power by another 500!" Gillman had 1700 attack, Attack Squad had 2600, and Leviathan had 3000! "Battle!" Leviathan Dragon roared and let loose its breath weapon on Muzumuzu Rhythm, ripping it apart for 1500 damage, and Yuma screamed again, dropped down onto his stomach!

"That could have been avoided had you listened to me." Yuma was about to snap at the stupid spirit, then noticed that most of his body was gone. "My survival appears to have been tied to your duel, so do not err again."

"And now, to crush you with my power! Atlantean Attack Squad, finish Yuma off!"

"Not yet!" Yuma flipped up back to his feet. "When my opponent attacks directly while I have no cards in my hand, I can summon Tasuke Knight from the grave and end the battle phase!" A portal appeared in the ground, Tasuke Knight pulled itself up through that, and assumed a defensive posture to create an impenetrable barrier.

"And next turn, you'll summon another monster in defense, or set a trap to protect what you have…" Shark's eyes were shrouded by the darkness of his aura. "Not again, never again, never! I overlay Spined Gillman and Atlantean Attack Squad!" The sky blackened, the spiral of stars appeared…he couldn't be! "Exceed summon, Number 47, Nightmare Shark!" A spear with spikes all along its length appeared, then unfolded, transformed into a shark with wings and bladed fins, and 2000 attack points. The stylized 47 appeared on Shark's left fist.

"Interesting; for him to carry two of the Numbers…"

"You're finished Scum!" Shark shrieked. "Next turn, it's all over, and then Rio, she'll understand, everyone will understand, everything will go back to normal!" Who the heck was Rio? What was he even talking about anymore? And…was the darkness rising up on him?

"Turn 9, Yuma Tsukumo: 350 life points, Ryouga Kamishiro: 1600 life points."

"Look," Yuma said as quietly as he could to the spirit, "if I get those Numbers off of him, do you think he'll be okay?"

"Your opponent should revert to his original state when I regain the Numbers from him, but only if you do exactly as instructed."

"Whatever!" Yuma drew his card, looked down at it. "I activate my spell card, Exceed Treasure, and draw one card for every Exceed monster on the field!" Two cards, he could pull it off with two cards, he'd find a way.

"Good, despite your blunder before, we are still in a position where we can summon our Number."

"Ours?" Yuma tilted his head at the spirit, then felt a warmth coming from his D-Pad. He looked, saw a light emanating from his Extra Deck, and opened it up to reveal a new card inside, a Rank 4 monster. "Number 39, Aspiring Emperor Hope?" He stared down at it, 2500 attack, and its effect… "All right, I summon Gogogo Golem." The Earth rumbled with the arrival of that heavily built humanoid mechanical monster.

"Yes, now that you have two level 4 monsters, summon Hope in defense."

To hell with that! "I overlay my monsters, and Exceed Summon Number 39 Aspiring Emperor Hope, in attack position!" The galaxy spiral appeared for him, and after the explosion came a sword that unfolded into a mighty gold and white warrior! Yuma looked back to Shark, the darkness was up to his knees, and it was still rising. "Emperor Hope, attack Nightmare Shark!" Yuma's monster drew one of its swords, brought its arm back, and threw the blade, spinning right through Nightmare Shark for 500 damage, and this time destroying it! The darkness around Shark spilled out, splashing along the ground.

"What is…what was…?" Shark was reeling, but it was working! All he had to do was to destroy the other one and…

"Why did you not do as you were told?" Yuma looked back at the spirit. "While we might still win, you have cut off one of our potential paths to victory."

"In case you didn't notice, something was happening to Shark and I had to stop it, and you said we can still win so stop complaining!" Yuma turned back to Shark. "I end my turn!" In that moment, Shark's Amulet of the Water Deity cracked and fell apart into dust.

"Turn 10, Yuma Tsukumo: 350 life points, Ryouga Kamishiro: 1100 life points."

That said, Yuma braced himself; what if Shark summoned a third Number monster to the field? "My turn." Shark said, using the tone he was using before he'd summoned Nightmare Shark. "Leviathan Dragon, finish off this scum, destroy him and his pathetic hope!"

"Activate Hope's effect, now."

"Of course I will!" Did this thing have to treat him like a complete incompetent? "By detaching an Exceed material, I can negate one attack, so I detach Tasuke Knight and negate your attack!" Hope created a wall from its wings, Leviathan Dragon's breath unable to even scratch it.

"How quaint, the scum clings on a little longer; I set one card and end my turn."

"Turn 11, Yuma Tsukumo: 350 life points, Ryouga Kamishiro: 1100 life points."

"Let us hope that your latest deviation does not cost us our chance at victory; the card your opponent set will allow him to win on his next turn."

Yuma seethed, but he bit his tongue; the damn thing kept fading out on him, and if this was part of that whole ordeal talk, and if Shark stayed the way he was… "I draw!"

"Good." The spirit said as it looked at the card in his hand. "But in the future, you will not deviate from my instructions." In that moment, Yuma had realized what the spirit had been talking about; the spell card Golden Form, when he switched a monster from defense to attack, he could use that to double his monster's attack power.

Whatever! This was going to work just as well! "I attack Leviathan Dragon with Hope, and activate its effect to negate my own attack." Hope threw a blade into the wall that it itself had created.

"The scum wants to mire itself in the muck, is that it?"

"Wrong! I now activate my quick spell, Double or Nothing; since my attack was negated, I double my monster's attack power and attack again!" Now Hope wielded both of its swords, and it brought them both down on Leviathan Dragon's neck, decapitating it for 2000 points of damage and ending the duel in his victory.

Shark collapsed onto his back, and the spirit extended its arm; for a moment Yuma swore he saw a pair of glowing cards fly out of Shark's body, but once he saw the numbers on his fists break apart, Yuma ran up to him. "Shark, are you okay? Shark!" He took off his D-Gazer, all the devastation was gone, as were Shark's goons.

"I see." The spirit said, Yuma shook out the voice from his ears.

Shark opened his eyes, got up. "Give this to him." Shark pulled out a deck from his pocket, Tetsuo's deck. Yuma accepted it, Shark turned around, started walking away.

"I…I'm sorry!" Shark stopped, turned his head. "Th-those monsters, I think it was my fault you got possessed by them, so, I'm sorry!" He bowed.

"It's a good thing you took care of them then." Shark turned his head back around, resumed walking away.

"Next time! Next time we duel, no weird monsters or possessions or anything like that!" Shark just kept on walking.

"Uh, Yuma?" Kotori caught his attention. "What exactly do you mean it was your fault?" Yuma couldn't blame her for asking; it was a perfectly sensible question, even if the answer was anything but.

"Yeah, it's not your fault Shark flipped out like that," Tetsuo said as he took back his deck from Yuma, "But if you don't mind, I'd like a look at that Number card of yours."

"Oh, sure thing Tetsuo." Yuma opened up his Extra Deck, only to find that only the Exceed monsters he'd started with were there.

"The Numbers are the pieces of my memories; you will only have access to them when dueling with a Number Bearer." It looked like the spirit was done contemplating whatever it was after it had taken the Number cards from Shark.

"Um, the dueling spirit says the cards are its…" Oh crap, why did he mention the spirit? His friends were going to tell Akari, Akari was going to think dueling was ruining his mind, he'd never be allowed to duel ever again, arghh!

"Dueling spirit?" Tetsuo looked around, his eyes passing right over Astral like he wasn't even there, which from Tetsuo's point of view he wasn't. "All right, you got me my deck back, you can show me that card later when you feel like it." Thank goodness for small favors and all that.

Kotori opened her mouth as though she was going to say something, but then her D-Gazer beeped. "Oh!" She tapped the side. "Hey Mom! Uh huh, uh huh, okay! I'll be home right away!" She tapped the side of her D-Gazer again. "Sorry guys, my mom needs me for something."

"And I might as well get back, Sis is going to get mad if I'm late getting home again."

"Okay, I'll see you guys tomorrow!" Yuma waved to his friends as they split off from him, each going there own way. He looked around, saw only the Obots. "All right." Yuma addressed the spirit. "There's just one thing I want to know; how many more of these Numbers do I need to get before you go away?" Number 17, Number 39, and Number 47; there were probably about 47 left to go, a lot but he'd manage somehow.

"There are 96 Number cards that have been scattered and yet to be recovered."

"96!?" Yuma exclaimed as he fell into a heap upon himself.

* * *

**Author's** **Notes: **As all authors desire, please review and provide me with constructive criticism.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Notes: **A couple of reviews questioned why I was using Xyz summon instead of Exceed Summon, which struck me as very weird, I'd not heard anyone in the fandom use anything but Xyz summon in a long long time. Still, I am not bound on this point; as mentioned in my replies to those reviews, if I get enough people saying that they'd rather see Exceed over Xyz, I'll go ahead and make that change. Now then, on with the story!

* * *

Mother

Astral watched the boy stop at the door to his home, or what he'd presumed to be the boy's home. The tucked The Emperor's Key into his pocket and turned to face him, that unpleasant expression on his face. "Listen up, when we go in there, you need to keep your mouth shut, you got that?"

"If I can't get clarification on points I do not understand, how am I to obtain the information I need to complete my mission?" In particular, the boy had expressed considerable frustration when he'd questioned him about the small robots that were everywhere; that they gathered garbage could hardly be considered sufficient or satisfactory information regarding their existence. The same went with regards to the sheer variety and brilliance of colors in the city, and the different manner of garb that the males and females he'd observed wore.

"Look, if you keep annoying me, my family's going to think I'm losing my mind and they won't let me go out and duel and that means no going along with your stupid mission, so like I said, shut up!"

"I will grant you that, during those times in which you are speaking with another member of your family." Astral determined that that compromise would expedite the boy's entrance into his own home, and was proven correct.

"Yuma!" The boy had only moved a few steps into his home when a female voice called out to him. "Did you show that punk who he was messing with?" The boy put his finger over his lips, a gesture that seemed to reinforce his demand for silence; why he'd felt it necessary when he'd already agreed to grant it was beyond him.

"Yeah, yeah I did." Astral knew that the boy had done no such thing; it was only after the boy had come to realize that he could not act on his own, that only after he'd listened to his instruction was victory achieved. If not for the complication that only the boy seemed able to see and hear him, that he could not physically interact with the physical world except through him, Astral would not have wasted his time with him.

"Seriously?" The woman who'd been speaking to the boy appeared, seated on a chair with wheels; she had predominantly red hair, the bangs a lighter shade, her eyes were a soft brown and the rest of her face was thin as compared to the boy and the other humans he'd observed during the duel. The boy nodded to her. "All right!" She stood up, much taller than the boy, walked up to him and put her hands on his shoulders. "You used your Xyz monsters for a change, right?"

"Y-yep." Astral wondered at the hitch in the boy's voice; he had used Xyz monsters after all, so why did he sound as though he were trying to conceal something?

"Good; I knew some of Mom's sense had to have rubbed off on you." She stepped back, kicked her leg out behind her to move the rolling chair back into the room that she'd emerged from. "To commemorate the occasion, you don't have to help with dinner tonight, Grandma and I'll take care of everything."

"You really mean that Sis?" The boy's eyes shimmered oddly.

"Yep, so now you've got some extra time to catch up on your homework." The boy's shoulders slumped and his head dropped forward.

"You and Kotori team up to plot against me, don't you?" It seemed the boy's obstinacy and propensity towards complaining was endemic in all his relationships; the problem of managing him grew more and more difficult the more he learned about him.

"Oh, be nice to your little brother." A new voice, seasoned and weathered; Astral looked at the source, saw a woman with purple and pink hair, pronounced puffy cheeks, and lines all around her eyes and on her hands, and she was smaller than the boy as well; was this the norm of human development, growth and decline over time? "A little afternoon TV won't hurt him."

The young woman sighed, brought her hand to her forehead. "Did you spoil Dad as bad as you're spoiling Yuma?" She dropped her hand, smiled. "Fine Yuma, you don't have to get on your homework until later."

"Ah thanks, you're the best!" Astral followed the boy into another room where he promptly jumped onto a couch, grabbed a device, and pointed it at what Astral presumed to be the TV that the elderly woman had spoken of; it was rectangular screen that was attached to the wall, roughly 45 centimeters by 30 centimeters, and when the boy pushed a button on the device in his hand a series of images flashed into being, each one replaced by the next so quickly as to seem like a depiction of a continuous object in motion. Then the boy started pushing another button over and over again, each time changing the images on the screen into something different.

"As you are no longer speaking with another member of your family," the boy looked up at him, groused, "there are some points that have arisen that I do not yet grasp."

"Argh." The boy looked back over his shoulders and saw that they were alone now. "Can't you, I don't know, go hide in the Key or something like that?" The boy pulled The Emperor's Key out his pocket and presented it to him.

"Your question makes no sense; it is The Emperor's Key, there is no 'in' for me or anything else to occupy." If the boy was so easily confused by something so simple as that, it was little wonder that he was incapable of dueling in any meaningful respect. "It would be the same as if I were to ask you to occupy the doorway between this room and another."

The boy looked down; had he actually managed to get him to think? "Whatever." Of course not. "Just go ahead and ask your dumb questions." The boy resumed pushing the button that changed the image sequences on the TV.

"First, I notice that despite the differences between your appearance and theirs, there are certain similarities that defy mere chance; what exactly is the meaning of them being your family members, that these similarities would be present?"

The boy groaned. "You don't even know…okay, it's like this; Grandma Haru was my dad's mom, and then he met my mom Mirai, and then they had my sister Akari, and then they had me. Do you get it?"

"What you are saying is that your grandmother contributed of her own being to create your father, and together with your mother they contributed of themselves to create you and your sister; is that an accurate assessment of what you'd attempted to explain to me?"

"More or less." The way he looked away said that he did not fully understand the process himself; surely there had to be limits to this human's ignorance.

"Then when can I see your mother and father?" The boy stopped pushing the button on the device. "In order to achieve a more complete understanding of your family structure, I must see them for myself; when do you expect them to be here?" The boy did not respond. "Did they not tell you when they would arrive?"

"Ask about them again, and I'm never speaking to you again, you got that?! They're off limits!" The boy stuck his finger in his face while his eyes moistened, the corners twitching; despite that, he'd kept his voice down.

"In the interest of keeping you functional, I will refrain from asking any more questions on the forbidden topic." Now of course Astral had to determine what questions he could ask that would not risk a similar outburst. As he contemplated his options, the boy stopped pushing that one button and so the image sequence became stable and consistent from one moment to the next. Then the boy pushed another button on the device.

"Hail the wandering hero!" The TV suddenly screamed out. "Defender of Love and Justice, Different Dimension Esper, Robin!" It took Astral a moment to notice the rhythm of the voice, the pattern to its speech which showed measure and purpose beyond simply what was being declared.

"What is the meaning of what you are watching?" Astral saw a boy in a mask in a strange forest with purple trees, all manner of bizarre creatures watching him from the boughs and branches. "Or is this also to be a forbidden topic?"

"It's a TV show, a story; you know what a story is, right?"

Astral turned to the memories that he possessed, the memories embodied in the Numbers that he'd recovered; Number 17 was the memory that told him he needed more power and that for him to gain that power he had to find and 'consume' the other Numbers that were scattered in the outside world. Number 39 was the memory that spoke of how he was to protect himself and those that he would need to fulfill his mission, and Number 47 was the memory that showed him the disaster that would follow if he were to fail in his mission. As Astral went over these memories, he also followed the events of the 'show', of the masked boy's journey through the forest; the masked boy came upon a child who'd been separated from his parents, which seemed to trigger a reaction in the boy that drove him to help despite this apparently not being part of his main objective.

"It is difficult to grasp, but judging from the contrived nature of what is happening, this is not depicting an actual event, but is rather the product of a human mind?"

"It is not contrived!" The boy glared at him. "Dead Max has been tearing apart families all over the galaxy, it'd be weird if Esper Robin didn't run into kids who needed his help on his journey." The boy looked away. "You wouldn't get it in a million billion years."

"That is entirely possible." Astral continued to observe the show as it played out, and though he could not understand or connect with the material, the sheer mathematical simplicity with which one event triggered the next made it tediously easy to anticipate; that the boy was brought to the edge of his seat before the end…no, Astral would not dwell on that; it was a sufficiently trivial matter that it did not bear dwelling upon.

"Oh man, I'm hoping the preview isn't pulling my leg!" The boy leaped off from his seat. "After all this time, Robin's finally going to confront the Galaxy Queen!" His fists were shaking at his side. "Oh man, I wonder how it's going to go, is she going to fight him herself or is she going to summon old bad guys to fight for her?"

"She is going to reveal that she is his long lost mother, and the shock will allow her to entrap him in her dungeon, after which point he will have to be rescued by one of his many spoken of allies." The boy glared at him. "That I do not understand why any of this is supposed to be compelling does not mean I do not grasp what it is going to do."

The boy raised his hand as though to say something, when his sister's voice sounded from another room. "Yuma, dinner time!"

"Coming!" The boy ran off, Astral followed him into a room with a large table with rice, fish, shrimp, and several different sauces, and around the table were three chairs, two of which were occupied by the young woman and the elderly woman, even though there was room for two more. "All right!" The boy took the third chair and clapped his hands together. "I am thankful for this meal!" He poured some sauce onto his rice, grabbed his chopsticks, and started eating.

"Goodness, that must have been quite some duel for you to have worked up an appetite like this!" The elderly woman said, consuming her food at a much more relaxed pace.

"Yeah, in all honesty I'm pretty curious how you managed to win." The young woman said, chewing at her fish in a manner quite similar to the boy's. "I mean, even if you didn't screw around, there's still a world of difference between you and that Ryouga kid."

"Eh, he wasn't that big a deal; sure, he had umm, Mermail Abyssgaios! Yeah, he had summoned that one, it's a Rank 7, pretty high up, it can detach an Xyz material to negate the effects of all face-up monsters with lower attack power, but I summoned my Rank 3 Muzumuzu Rhythm and activated its effect to double its own attack power and took it out no problem!" What?

"Oh my!" The elderly woman said. "Akari, are you sure that Shark boy made it to the Nationals? I'm sure a player like him wouldn't forget to activate his monster's effect at a critical juncture like that." No, he wouldn't; Abyssgaios's effect could be activated on either player's turn, demonstrating that the boy was also inept at deception.

"Erk…That is!" The boy ate a shrimp. "I'd also used Overlay Eater's effect, to get rid of his last Xyz material!" The boy kept his face in his food while the elderly woman kept her eye on him; would that she could see and hear him instead of the boy. "So, um, Akari! Get any good scoops while I was out today?"

"Eh, nothing big, nothing to bring the power to its knees or anything like that." The young woman leaned back in her chair. "But there's this one mechanic, Omura's Gearworks? Well, people who've taken their cars to him…"

Astral stored away everything the young woman said in the eventuality that it might come into use at a later point, and bided his time until the boy was done eating with his family, took care of rituals from within a room that the boy claimed was guarded with a spirit annihilating field, and was in his room, up in the attic, satisfying Astral that his inquiries would not be interrupted.

"You lied about the duel earlier today." The boy looked up at him from his desk. "Our opponent did not use the monster you said he did, and you did not achieve victory in the manner that you'd suggested."

The boy rolled his eyes at him. "Didn't you listen to what I'd said before? If me talking to an invisible spirit would get me in hot water with them, don't you think me and him using monsters that don't exist would also get me in all kinds of trouble?"

"If that is the case, then why did you fail to prepare a deception that would not be seen through almost immediately, thus arousing suspicion?" The boy glared at him.

"You know, I wouldn't even have to try and lie to them if it weren't for you, okay? You and those stupid Numbers, this is all your fault, so you don't get to complain when I'm stuck trying to cover your stupid tracks, you got that?"

"I do not; according to what you'd said during the duel, you had formed some sort of contract during a dream; were you forced or coerced against your will into forming this contract?"

"I already told you, that stupid voice didn't say anything about you or the Numbers or anything."

"Did you ask?" The boy frowned, fell silent. "I see; you had not inquired or demanded elaboration, you'd assumed that you'd understood and accepted, heedless of the potential consequences. As a result, your situation is entirely self-imposed and I see no cause for why I should not be troubled by the fact that you are the only means by which I can recover my memories."

"Then it looks like you're going to be troubled for a real long time!" The boy turned back around, struggled with his work, and after a time entered his hammock and fell asleep.

Astral felt a twinge in the back of his neck and looked out the window; somewhere in that shining city that drowned out the stars with its spectacle of colors, somewhere in between all the wandering robots that gathered what trash they could find, someone had just come upon one of the Numbers, one of the pieces of his memories. Astral floated out the window, his legs passing through the wall, and found that he was only able to move ten meters before he could move no further; it was not as though he'd encountered a barrier, it was more akin to the force that bound the boy and the other humans to the ground. "How troublesome indeed."

* * *

"Yuma!" The green haired girl said as she waved to the boy from the gates to the school, standing alongside the large boy. "You doing okay?" Her eyes darted to The Emperor's Key before returning to the boy's face; Astral recalled the way she'd looked at the boy following the duel, her expression reminiscent of the elderly woman from Yuma's home; being the boy's grandmother, the elderly woman had clear cause to concern herself over the boy's condition and deceit, but what reason this girl had was one he would need further information before he could hazard a guess.

"Yeah, everything's fine." The boy grinned and rubbed the back of his head as he came to a stop while the large boy shook his head. "Oh! How were things with your mom yesterday? Were you able to help her with the thing she needed?"

The girl smiled, put her hand in her back pocket. "Yep, and for being such a big help, my mom decided to give me that certain something I've been hinting at for a while now."

"Whoa, you don't mean…?" The boy's eyes shimmered, prompting Astral to wonder if the boy suffered from some manner of medical condition.

"Yep!" The girl pulled out her hand, and in it were three strips of paper. "Backstage passes to the Different Dimension Esper Robin's rehearsal! And just in time too, they're for this afternoon."

"Wow, really?" The boy hopped in place and thrust his fist in the air. "Your mom's the best Kotori, can you believe this Tetsuo, we're going to get to meet Robin in person!"

"Eh, I'll pass." The large boy waved his hand dismissively. "I only watch it 'cause my sis refuses to change the channel whenever it comes on." The boy snickered.

"Oh Robin!" He spoke with a high falsetto. "Come here my wittle baby, come to mommy and let her comfort you!"

"Oh yeah, that's her alright!" The large boy covered his mouth as he laughed. Astral looked to the green-haired girl, who had a gleam in her eye.

"All right, I guess we know who's getting the third ticket then." She put on her D-Gazer, the colored lenses turning her hazel eyes yellow. Then she started tapping her fingers on the air in front of her. "And…send!" She looked to the boy, whose jaw had dropped. "So, do you think I should do an impression of your impression of her, for her?"

"No no, no no!" The boy waved his hands defensively in front of his chest. "But uh, we should get going, before we're late!" The boy ran, his friends followed, and Astral endured the morning classes; the enduring came not from learning a great deal about the world he was in, most notably that an event called Zero Reverse had transpired 83 years ago. From what the boy's history text and what the history teacher said, there was a city called Neo-Domino City that had been at the epicenter of the disaster, that it had been caused by a man who'd tried to become a god and that the overflow of energy from that entered the tectonic plates and reshaped the face of the Earth. Astral had tried to get the boy to ask more but he refused; indeed, he didn't ask any questions at all, though he'd volunteered plenty of answers, one or two of which were correct.

Then a bell rang, and the boy and the rest of his classmates got up and left the classroom to go enter a much bigger room with many tables larger than the one in the boy's home, and the boy and his two friends took their seats together, brought out boxes with food in them and started eating. "Hey, did you hear about last night?" One of the nearby kids said to one of their friends.

"You mean about how a couple of crooks tried to rob Mr. Heartland?" The friend shrugged. "Like anyone would really be that stupid."

"You mean you didn't hear the part about how one of them was able to turn invisible, and the other one was able to guess the door codes on the very first try?" Astral floated closer to them, listened intently.

"Oh come on, how could anyone possibly know if they were guessing? And besides which, why wasn't there anything in the news about it, huh?"

"That's because the police are keeping it hushed-up! See, the only reason the crooks didn't get away with it was 'cause a superhero showed up and stopped them!"

"Do you ever not read comic books?"

"I'm telling you, that's totally what happened!"

Astral returned to the boy. "Contact your sister and see what she can find out about that rumor." As the green-haired girl had demonstrated, this was well within the boy's means.

The boy turned his head and scrunched his face up before looking back to his friends. "Can you believe these dumb rumors flying around? Next thing you know people are going to be saying there are ninja cats roaming the streets, or the city's started selling rocket launchers to little kids!"

"I guess." The large boy tore away a chunk of meat with his teeth, chewed it up, and swallowed. "Then again, it's not like weird things don't happen around here." The large boy narrowed his eyes at the boy, who gulped in response.

"Ah!" The green-haired girl said as a sound played from her D-Gazer. She put it on, read something only she could see. "Tetsuko replied, says she'll be picking up me and Yuma right after school, and for you," she turned to face the large boy, "she wants you to make sure you stay out of her room while she's out."

"Like I'd go in there!" The green-haired girl laughed at the large boy's outburst. "And you let her know I'm going to be out dueling, so I won't be there to see her racing off to see her itty bitty baboo!"

The green-haired girl and the boy laughed, and soon after so did the large boy. Lunch ended not long after that, and Astral continued to learn what he could over the rest of the school day; very little as it so transpired, but he stored it all in his memory all the same. When the last class ended, the large boy went one way while the boy and the green-haired girl went another; they reached the gates to the school and waited there, watched the round robots as they passed by.

A small dark green car drove up to the gate at high speed, screeching to a halt as the two children jumped back. "All right, hop on in kids, we're burning daylight here and there's only so much to go around!" The brash voice threatened to bowl Astral over, but the two children did not seem affected.

"I guess you're really excited about this, aren't you?" The green-haired girl said as she opened the rear door; the boy entered and the green-haired girl followed right after. Astral entered the car, watched the two children strap themselves in and looked at the driver; while slender as opposed to stocky, the similarities in attire and hairstyle confirmed that this was indeed the large boy's older sister.

"What can I say?" The forceful young woman said as she drove off with them. "If I came from money like you, I'd have gotten those backstage passes myself a long time ago!" They entered traffic, the forceful young woman drove past one car after another. "And let me guess, Tetsuo's off messing around again challenging random punks to duels, right? Just so long as he doesn't wager his deck again, you wouldn't believe how mopy he was the other day you'd think someone had taken away his soul or something!" She laughed as she slammed on the breaks, a red light at the intersection.

"For us duelists, our decks are our souls!" The boy said, leaning forward in his seat as much as his harness would allow. "If you ever dueled you'd get that." The boy stuck his tongue out.

"Well kiddo, I'm already taking time off work to take you on this little field trip of ours." She looked back with a cheeky grin. "One day when you're older, you'll understand." She turned her head back, the light turned green, and the boy was pulled back into his seat as they took off once again.

Nineteen minutes later, the forceful young woman pulled into a rectangular section of road with many stationary cars between sets of lines, and upon finding an empty set of lines, she entered and stopped. "We're here!" The forceful woman exclaimed, unbuckling her harness before opening her door and leaping out of her car, a nearby robot unaffected by her sudden movement.

"Oh man, we're actually going to meet Robin!" The boy leaped out in an identical manner, and even the green-haired girl jumped out from her seat.

"Okay everyone, according to our passes," the green-haired girl said as she pulled them out of her pocket, "we need to head over to soundstage 3, there's going to be someone waiting for us there." The forceful young woman waited for the green-haired girl and followed her alongside the boy. Astral looked all around the studio lot, noting how the size of the boy's TV failed to convey the size of the facilities used to create the show; was this all just for one production, or did each building represent its own show?

"That these humans go through such efforts to create their artifice…"

"There we go!" The forceful young woman pointed ahead, to where a rotund man in a square hat was standing. "Yo, tour guide, your tour's here!" The three ran up to the rotund man who held his hand out, and the green-haired girl handed him the passes. He looked them over, then looked the green-haired girl in the eye.

"Everything looks to be in order Ms. Mizuki, and please let your mother know that we are grateful for her continued support."

"I'll be sure to do that." The green-haired girl bowed, and then the rotund man opened a door and waved them in. They entered a tall narrow hallway, the sounds of the humans' steps echoed.

"So, are you guys filming right now?" The forceful girl said, examining herself as she walked along.

"Indeed we are, but this is not surprising; in order to keep up with our weekly broadcast, it is necessary that we have the next four weeks of episodes filmed so that our editing team will have the time it needs to do its job so that you can witness the splendor of Esper Robin's adventure just as we have visualized them for you."

"Well, you don't have to worry about us asking for spoilers or anything like that, 'cause we want to be surprised by what happens!" The boy said, and then he shot him a look for only a moment; that was intended as a jab, that much was clear.

"Very good, very good, we've had obsessive fans try and get a hold of scripts and spread them online in the past, to say the least, but as of late things have been much more secure…and here we are!" He stopped at a door, pulled out a card; not a Duel Monsters card, but a card nonetheless. "Now be quiet as we enter; if everything is on schedule, we will be seeing a climactic scene from next month." The three nodded at the rotund man, and so they entered.

"Galaxy Queen!" The masked boy called out from the bottom of a staircase, addressing a towering woman in an elaborate dress with a scepter in hand and a harsh expression on her face. "I've been running from you long enough, but no longer!" He extended his arm out, pointed at the harsh woman. "In order for the people of this dimension to be able to enjoy the feast of justice, I have no choice but to stop your twisted ambitions once and for all!"

The harsh woman chuckled. "Your words will not put food on anyone's table, but I on the other hand, I can satisfy my hunger for your anguish with a single utterance! Devos!" The masked boy reeled, and with each step back small explosions went off where he'd been standing a moment before. "Do you understand now, Esper Robin? A child like you could never stand up to me or Dead Max, so give up now and spare me your platitudes!" The masked boy fell onto his back, Astral noticed the camera up above moving in closer.

"That you want me to give up…" The masked boy pulled himself up to his feet. "That you want me to stop trying…" The masked boy breathed hard. "That is…" The masked boy looked down at the ground. A man with a cap standing near a camera waved his hand in a circular pattern. "I…"

"Cut!" Bells rang out as the capped man stepped out in front of the masked boy while a pair of women went up to the harsh woman and helped her down from the platform that her overlong dress had concealed. "Okudaira, this is the fourth take now, at worst you usually get the scene done in three."

"I'm sorry sir," the masked boy spoke in a completely different voice from before. "I'm just…I'm very tired sir, I'm having a hard time remembering my lines."

"Eh, I understand that, and I'd like to be able to give you a break, don't get me wrong…"

"A break is not an option." The harsh woman came down the steps, her voice no longer so bombastic but no less harsh for it. "We will get this scene done today, I can assure you of that."

"Shouldn't the star get the last say on that?" The boy said, drawing everyone's eyes to him. The harsh woman was about to respond…

"It's okay Mother, I'll deal with them." Ah, that would add authenticity to the role, or so Astral supposed. The masked boy walked up to them and removed his mask, and in that moment of eye-contact from his end, Astral felt the same twinge in the back of his neck that he'd felt the night before. "I take it you're the guests we were told about this morning?"

"He has one of the Numbers." He said to the boy, who looked back at him and whose eyes showed the appropriate response. "Obtain it for me, immediately."

"Yes we are." The forceful young woman said, lowering herself to meet his eye level. "And I see you're as hard working as the rumors say."

"Your admiration means the world to me." The no-longer masked boy bowed. "My mother and I, our entire goal with this show has been to show people how difficult yet worthwhile justice is."

"Yeah, that's right!" The boy said. "Because, you've heard about those crooks who tried to rob Mr. Heartland, and how a super hero tried to stop them, right? So, you know, someone out there's really taken your show to heart, right?"

"Certainly not." The harsh woman said, much taller than all of them even without her hidden platform to stand on. "Reckless vigilantism like that endangers both the public and whoever it is whose playing at being a hero and the idea that we would want anyone to imitate the show is reprehensible."

"I see." The no-longer masked boy put his mask back on, "I wondered, but now I'm certain." The masked boy turned to face the harsh woman. "This was all a trick, a trap to try and make me lose my way, but there was one thing you didn't count on, foul deceiver." The masked boy brandished his whip. "I found my real mother, and I will return her to the body that you've stolen from her!"

"What on Earth…what are you talking Fuya?" The harsh woman took a step forward, the masked boy snapped his whip at her feet, forcing her back, everyone else stood frozen as the events played out before them.

"Sorry imposter, but my real mother has changed me to Esper Robin, and there's nothing you can do to turn me back!" He snapped his whip in the air, a flash of light, and the harsh woman was gone. The other people in the room were also gone, but Astral heard them running out the doors. The masked boy turned around to face the boy. "But before I can return my mother to her rightful place, I need to obtain the mystical power that originated between the dimensions, power that you, as one of the deceiver's minions, possess! The masked boy brandished a D-Pad as the lenses of a D-Gazer filled the eyeholes of his mask.

"W-wait, you don't mean…" The boy paused, looked back at him.

"For whatever reason, he desires the Numbers; relieve him of his, now."

"What the heck's going on here?!" The forceful young woman said. "Kotori, you didn't mention anything about this!"

The green-haired girl looked the boy in the eye, she looked back to the forceful woman. "Tetsuko, help me find Mrs. Okudaira."

The forceful girl brought her fist down into the palm of her hand. "Of course! But…what about Yuma?" The boy was arming his D-Pad, putting on his D-Gazer. "You sure he'll be able to hold out on his own?"

"Before yesterday, probably not." That was not surprising; even though the green-haired girl could not explain it, she was aware that something was different with the boy, and that difference was him. "Come on!" The forceful woman and the green-haired girl ran off, the boy and the masked boy drew their cards.

"Hapless pawn of evil, I shall go first and claim the feast of justice!" The masked boy drew his sixth card. "I summon Change Slime to the field!" An amorphous green blob slopped onto the field, twisting on itself as its features changed from moment to moment.

"A level 1 normal monster in attack position…"

"I get it!" The boy cried out. "The real you is fighting back, it wants me to win!" Astral had to restrain himself to keep from glaring at the boy.

"I don't know what manner of trickery that was supposed to be, but it won't work! I set three cards and end my turn!"

"Turn 2, Yuma Tsukumo: 4000 life points, Fuya Okudaira: 4000 life points."

"Don't worry Fuya, I'm here for you!" The boy had known the masked boy only a matter of minutes, and not at all outside the influence of the Numbers; there was indeed no limit to how little Astral could comprehend him. "And I start by summoning Achacha Archer!" A lightly armored figure with bow and arrows appeared on the boy's side of the field, an orange feather on the side of its helmet and 1200 attack points. "When I normal or flip summon this monster, you take 500 points of damage!" The archer grabbed an arrow, only for the tip to suddenly burst into flame, prompting it to flail about before firing it in the masked boy's direction.

"Trap card activate, Generation Shift!" The burning arrow flew past the masked boy's monster as it writhed and melted. "I destroy one monster I control and add another monster of the same name from my deck to my hand." The flaming arrow struck home, and the Change Slime burst apart, spattering its remains before it all dissolved away.

"Do not attack." Astral said to the boy. "He needs a direct attack to fulfill his strategy."

"Achacha Archer, attack Fuya directly!" Hadn't the boy agreed to do what he said? Hadn't he realized in the previous day's duel that he was useless on his own?

"Trap card activate, Enchanted Javelin, allowing me to gain life points equal to your monster's attack points!" The javelin in question appeared in the masked boy's hand; he hefted it before throwing it, impacting against the boy moments before Achacha Archer attacked, bringing the masked boy down to his original 3500 life points. "And now I activate my third trap, Wolf in Sheep's Clothing!" Howling echoed from the distance. "When I take battle damage from a direct attack, I reveal a level 1 monster in my hand and special summon it and another copy from my deck to the field, and that monster is Change Slime!" Two copies of the monster appeared on the field, each changing to the point that they could no longer be identified as the same monster. "Now, cease addressing me as Fuya, a mere peon like you could never hope to reduce me to that sniveling coward again!"

"I'm not trying to reduce you to anything!" Nor was he trying to win. "You're not being yourself, and…I don't know, part of it's my fault at least!" At least there was a point where the boy could concede the obvious. "Whatever's going on with you, I get it, and that's why I'm going to do everything I can to help!" What was the point of that, given that he could do nothing? Where was the value in help that was utterly ineffectual? "I set one card and end my turn!"

"Turn 3, Yuma Tsukumo: 4000 life points, Fuya Okudaira: 3500 life points."

"You understand nothing!" The masked boy drew his next card. "Now bear witness to it, the power that I have obtained through the feast of justice! I sacrifice my Change Slimes to summon Different Dimension Esper Star Robin!" How curious; aside from the near pure black coloration, it was an impeccable replica of the masked boy himself; had he had the card commissioned, or was his appearance meant to conform to the card itself? In any event, the 3000 attack points it possessed was a much more immediate concern. "Descend now and crush Evil's lackey my loyal double!" The masked boy's monster flew forward, spinning its whip overhead.

"Trap card activate, Half Unbreak!" The masked boy's monster struck Achacha Archer with its whip, but the boy's monster held its ground. "Now until the end of my turn, my monster can't be destroyed and I take only half damage from battles involving it!" Then the damage wave struck the boy, slamming him down onto his back.

"So the deceiver's toady can fight back, but for how long?" The masked boy chuckled. "Well? Show me!"

"Turn 4, Yuma Tsukumo: 3100 life points, Fuya Okudaira: 3500 life points."

The boy flipped back onto his feet, drew his card. "You've done well to keep Achacha Archer on the field; now summon Zubaba Knight and overlay both monsters to Xyz Summon Number 17 Leviathan Dragon; once it achieves its full 3000 attack points, we will be able to destroy his monster and…"

"Shut up!" The boy turned on him. "This isn't some stupid game, this isn't just about destroying monsters or reducing life points, this is about Fuya and his mother! You don't get it, but Fuya's in pain and his mom's probably beside herself with how worried she is about him, and all you care about is your stupid card! I'll get it for you, don't worry about that, but first thing's first, I'm going to get to the real Fuya!" The boy…for him to claim that he was treating this as a game, that his mission was trivial in the face of such parochial concerns… "I switch Achacha Archer to defense, and set one monster to end my turn."

"Turn 5, Yuma Tsukumo: 3100 life points, Fuya Okudaira: 3500 life points."

"As I'd suspected." The masked boy said as he drew his card. "Your only purpose here is to stall and confuse me while your compatriots search for the imposter who's taken my mother's body and spirit her away; fortunately, my true mother will not allow you to get away with that." The boy grinned as he held out the newly drawn card in his hand. "I activate my spell card, Tri-wight, and special summon all three Change Slimes in my grave back to the field."

"It's coming." Astral saw it, the darkness suffusing the masked boy. The boy gulped, he saw the same thing.

"I now overlay my three Change Slimes!" They became three spheres of light, they entered the spiral of stars; something lay beyond there, something important, but in order to know what that was, he had to recover his memories, he had to recover the Numbers, he had to defeat the Number that stood before him that very moment. "Number 83 Galaxy Queen!" Unlike the ambiguity with masked boy's other monster, this one was clearly patterned after the harsh woman rather than the other way around; she stood tall and imperious, her scepter crossed over her chest to denote that she was in defense position, having only 500 attack and defense points after all. "Now," the masked boy said, darkness filling his eyes as the stylized 83 appeared on his cheek, "you will bear witness to it, the power of the bonds between mother and child that you can't destroy no matter how you try; I activate Galaxy Queen's effect, and detach one Change Slime to prevent my monsters from being destroyed until my next standby phase, and furthermore, all monsters I control will also inflict piercing damage!" One of the three orbiting Xyz materials entered Galaxy Queen's scepter; it waved the glowing rod over her head, showering herself and Esper Star Robin with rays of golden light. "Furthermore, so long as Esper Star Robin is on the field, you can't attack or target any other monsters I control; my mother gives me strength, and I protect her with that strength! Robin, attack and obliterate his wretched Achacha Archer!"

Different Dimension Esper Star Robin twirled the whip over its head, looking to Galaxy Queen who smiled in response, and then it snapped the whip through Achacha Archer's body, the cord of darkness striking against the boy's chest; the boy screamed before he fell to his knees, but more importantly, Astral could feel the cohesion of his form dissipating. He looked down at his hand; it was only there in every other moment. "I trust this has been decisively instructive for you; do as I tell you from now on."

"No way!" The boy picked himself back up. "This is way too important for me to give up on, not so long as I've still got a chance of reaching him!"

"So long as my mother is here, there is no chance of that! Take your turn, and fall before the strength of justice and the love of family that you can never tear apart!"

"Turn 6, Yuma Tsukumo: 700 life points, Fuya Okudaira: 3500 life points."

"I know you can't!" The boy shouted. "There's nothing in the world that can break your love for your parents, no matter how much it might hurt!" While his expression was concealed, Astral was certain that the masked boy was sharing in his confusion. "You want to be strong for them, so you're not holding them back! I know how hard that is, there were plenty of times I had to wipe my tears away before anyone could see them, but if I can pull it off, then so can you!" The boy drew his card.

"Summon Gagaga Magician and flip-summon Gogogo Golem, then overlay for Number 39." With that he would be able to buy himself the time he needed to summon Number 17.

"I flip-summon Gogogo Golem and activate my spell card Golden Form!" So of course the boy refused; Gogogo Golem's heavy form ripped through the ground. "Since I just switched him from defense to attack position, Golden Form doubles my monster's attack power until my next standby phase, which makes Gogogo Golem stronger than your Esper Star Robin! Gogogo Golem, attack!" Brimming with golden light pouring out from every crack and crevice, Gogogo Golem engaged in its showy and ultimately ineffectual attack, inflicting 600 points of damage while being unable to destroy it thanks to Number 83's effect. "Did you feel that? Did that feel like someone who didn't get what you're going through?"

"Gh…you obviously think you're really clever…you think you have everything figured out, don't you?" The masked boy scowled. "But you gave it away, you talked about your tears, and how you tried to hide them, but our tears are nothing compared to hers!" He pointed to Number 83. "I heard her, I saw her, even over a year after the funeral, she was still crying! It's my responsibility, my duty as her son to see that she never has cause to cry again! That's what Fuya could never do, but with her help, I've transformed into Esper Robin, who has that power! And I will use that power to defeat you, and restore my mother to her rightful place!"

* * *

"Mrs. Okudaira!" Tetsuko yelled as she ran from one room to the next. "If you can hear us, please let us know where you are!" She paused as she hit another corner, another hall full of even more doors leading to more rooms; how was this even possible? One minute she's about to meet one of her favorite stars, the next everything turns into something out of a rejected TV script.

"Tetsuko!" She saw an AR window with Kotori's face appear right in front of her. "I think I've found something!" A glowing green line appeared in the air, showing her the path over to where Kotori was; she was standing in front of a wall, just looking at it. "With the distances between most of the doors, there should be one here, but there isn't." She was right, there was definitely room for another door, and with the panic they were in, it was the perfect place to hide Mrs. Okudaira. "I think I can disable the program that's hiding the door and keeping it locked, but it'll only be down for a moment, so I'm going to need you to open the door for me." Yeesh, Tetsuo had mentioned that Kotori was the best in her computer club, but this was way beyond her!

"No problem Kotori." Tetsuko braced herself as Kotori opened up an AR window covered in lines and lines of code going by so fast, she swept her fingers across that window to find what she was looking for.

"Now!" There was a static burst, and the door appeared in the wall; Tetsuko stepped forward and kicked down the door, revealing a dressing room with Mrs. Okudaira unconscious on the ground!

"Mrs. Okudaira!" Tetsuko ran up to her, took hold of her in her arms. "Are you all right?"

"Wha…?" Her eye's fluttered open. "What's…where is my son?!" She stood up with a furious expression on her face.

"He should still be dueling Yuma." Kotori said as she created another AR path for them to follow. "We better hurry and get back, there's no telling how long Yuma will be able to hold out on his own."

* * *

"Turn 7, Yuma Tsukumo: 700 life points, Fuya Okudaira: 2900 life points."

The masked boy drew his card, glared at the boy. "Let me show it to you now, the ultimate weapon in the war against evil, the weapon that will sacrifice everything to defend the feast of justice for all families! I equip Different Dimension Esper Star Robin with Blade of Sacrifice!" The masked boy cracked his whip in the air, where it stayed extended; it coiled on itself, the surface turning sleek and hard until it had completed its transformation into a sword as big as the one wielding it. "Now, I summon Kozaky and sacrifice it to Blade of Sacrifice, increasing my monster's attack power by 1000 until my next standby phase." A demonic figure in a white coat appeared, and Robin skewered it on the blade, runes all along it lighting up. The masked boy did not mention it, but Astral read the rest of the card's text; if he did not sacrifice a monster every turn during the main phase, then the equipped monster would be banished. While there was the possibility that they could wait him out, Astral had no intention of relying on his opponent being incompetent. "Attack his monster, my faithful double!"

After all, he had enough trouble dealing with the boy's incompetence as it was; Esper Star Robin swept the blade with both hands, cleaving through Gogogo Golem, which being in attack position could not use its effect to prevent its destruction by battle. "Gyaaargh!" The boy screamed, and now the whole world was hazy in Astral's vision; 400 damage, they were left with only 300 life points.

"Yuma!" Astral saw a greenish bob, it was the green-haired girl. "Are you okay?" She grabbed him by his shoulders.

"Of course I am." Despite his condition, the boy did not speak with defiance but with conviction; in fact, as the green-haired girl helped him back up, his own vision returned to its original clarity, allowing him to see the forceful young woman and the harsh woman as they ran into the room. "Thank you for finding Fuya's mom."

"Fuya!" The harsh woman walked right past them, stopping only as the masked boy's monsters interposed themselves between them.

"So you've been released, foul deceiver." The masked boy glared up at the harsh woman. "Enjoy your freedom while it lasts; your wretched lackey is on his last legs, and once I defeat him I will take his power and use it to restore my true mother," he waved to Number 83, "back to her rightful place."

"Fuya," The harsh woman's voice was low and quiet, "how are you doing all this? Why are you acting like this?"

"Why?" The masked boy dipped his head, shook his fist. "At last I've become strong enough to protect my mother, and I'm going to keep getting stronger, and you dare question what I'm doing?!" The masked boy raised his head, thrust his arm out to point at the harsh woman. "For the sake of fulfilling my mother's dreams, for the sake of restoring things to the way they were before, before she fell into the grip of despair that you brought down upon her and me, I will sacrifice who I once was to make that happen!"

"That is enough!" The harsh woman yelled, water streaming down her face from her eyes, different from the children from the show but still recognizably the same. "The purpose, the entire reason I created Different Dimension Esper Robin, it was to inspire you to be strong, not for you to run away! That's why the families that you saved didn't go back the way they were before, because our family can't go back the way it was before your father died!" The harsh woman gripped her fist at her side. "Just stop this right now, and we will move on from this together."

The darkness in the masked boy's eyes wavered. "Are you…?" The darkness faded away…

A dark chuckle echoed throughout the room. "Of course not." Number 83, it spoke. "You would take her word over mine?" Judging from their reactions, none of the humans except for the boy heard this.

"Of course not." The darkness returned to the masked boy's eyes. "You almost had me, but your words can't touch me!" The boy raised his whip, and the forceful young woman grabbed the harsh woman and carried her back before the masked boy could strike. The masked boy turned to face the boy again. "Let's get this out of the way as fast as possible; I detach my second Change Slime, preventing my monsters from being destroyed until my next standby phase and end my turn!" Number 83 gathered the light of the second Xyz material in her scepter and showered that light onto itself and Different Dimension Esper Star Robin.

"Turn 8, Yuma Tsukumo: 300 life points, Fuya Okudaira: 2900 life points."

"Astral." Astral looked down at the boy, saw that his head was downcast. "Mrs. Okudaira was right." The boy conceded that someone else was right? "Look, just…whatever you say, I'll do it, no complaints."

"It is well that you've reached this point before losing the duel. In any event, draw your next card and I'll see what we have to work with." The boy did so; his hand consisted of Gagaga Magician, Pinecono, Darklon, Zubaba Knight, and Card of Spell Containment. "Play Card of Spell Containment and we'll go from there."

The boy nodded. "I activate Card of Spell Containment, allowing me to draw two cards but I can't activate spell cards or set cards for the rest of my turn!" He pulled his next two cards out.

"Good, we have two out of the three materials we need win on the 11th turn." The boy looked at him. "Summon Gogogo Giant and use its effect, then summon Number 39."

"Okay…" The boy breathed in deep. "I summon Gogogo Giant!" A tall and lean toy-like robot with 2000 attack points appeared on the field. "When I normal summon this monster, I can special summon a Gogogo monster in my grave in defense position, and then Gogogo Giant is also switched to defense." Thus, Gogogo Golem was back on the field, and so the boy had two level 4 monsters on the field. "I overlay my monsters to Xyz Summon Number 39 Aspiring Emperor Hope!" Balls of orange light spun off into the spiral of stars, and following the great explosion of light the gold and white warrior was on their side of the field, Xyz materials orbiting around it.

"That concludes our preparations; end your turn here."

"…I end my turn!" The boy was still struggling with his lesser nature, but so long as he continued to cooperate, it did not matter.

"Turn 9, Yuma Tsukumo: 300 life points, Fuya Okudaira: 2900 life points."

The masked boy drew his card. "I summon Charcoal Inpachi." A burned out husk of a wooden humanoid appeared. "I sacrifice it to Blade of Sacrifice." Robin cleaved the monster in half, releasing its energy into the blade. "And now I attack Aspiring Emperor Hope!"

"Now!"

"I activate Hope's effect to negate your attack!" The massive blade clashed against the wall of metal wings, sparks flew but in the end the masked boy's monster had to pull back.

"I activate Galaxy Queen's effect, detaching my final Change Slime, making my monsters immortal! Then, I set one card to end my turn."

"Turn 10, Yuma Tsukumo: 300 life points, Fuya Okudaira: 2900 life points."

"Do not concern yourself with his face-down card; its only purpose will be to overcome Hope's effect. Simply draw the card we need." The boy looked up at him with a displeased expression, returned his gaze to his deck.

"I draw!" Good, that was exactly what they needed. "Oh man!"

"Set the two cards, then summon Darklon; our victory is now assured."

"Huh?" The boy looked down at his hand, then gasped as he realized what had been obvious to Astral from the start. "You got it! I set two cards, and then I summon Darklon to end my turn!" A shaggy haired creature only about a foot tall appeared next to Number 39, snickering in seeming obliviousness to its 100 attack points.

"Turn 11, Yuma Tsukumo: 300 life points, Fuya Okudaira: 2900 life points."

The masked boy drew, adding a card to his empty hand. "I summon Oppressed People." Farmers tilling the fields, men with whips beating at their backs. "I sacrifice them to the Blade of Sacrifice." One and all, all were slain by the blade without distinction. "Then, I activate my trap card, Galactic Devotion!" Light rushed out from Number 83's being. "When an Xyz monster I control has no Xyz materials attached, I remove from play three monsters in my grave and target one monster I control, and that monster will be able to attack twice during the battle phase, and can't be destroyed by card effects!" The light rushed into Different Dimension Esper Star Robin, turning the black into a white that obliterated any distinction of features. "You can negate only one attack, and there's no way I'm going to target that weakling, no one could be that stupid! Robin, my faithful self, attack Aspiring Emperor Hope!" The monster raised its black blade overhead…

"Now!" The boy nodded.

"I activate my trap card, Guts Guard, and change the attack target to Darklon!" Darklon leaped out in front of Number 39, laughing madly. "Then I activate Aspiring Emperor's Hope to negate your attack against Darklon!" The wall of wings extended around Darklon, guarding it from all angles against Robin's assault.

"What was the point of that? I still get my second attack and there's nothing you do to stop the feast of justice that is to follow!"

"Oh yeah? Then how about I activate my other trap card, Counterforce; when a monster's attack against an attack position monster is negated, I inflict damage to you equal to the difference between those two monsters attack powers!" Energy shot out from Darklon's body, becoming burning rocks of fire, 39 in total. One by one they hammered down onto the masked boy, inflicting 3900 points of damage and finishing the duel. Number 83 shrieked as it vanished, and Astral extended his hand out to reclaim the Number, return it to his being and gain access to the memories partitioned within it.

"Fuya!" The harsh woman ran up to the masked boy as he fell to his knees, holding him to her chest.

"Astral." He was not in the studio anymore; there was darkness all around, and all around him everything was warm, soft, as though he were enveloped in…cotton? "Please forgive me, Astral."

"Who is…?" That voice, it stirred something in him, it brought out something in him; what was it?

"When you awaken, I will be long gone, but do not fear; there will be another of my line to watch over you, and so I entrust you with my dreams for the future, so that you might one day fulfill them. I know you can do this, and I hope that you will be able to forgive me for what I am about to do."

Astral felt himself being lowered, put in something. "Who are you? What is your dream? What must I do to fulfill it? What is your name?!"

"Mom, I'm so sorry." He was back in the studio, the masked boy…he had taken off his mask, was crying in his mother's arms.

"Yuma." He looked up at him, his cheeks wet. "I'm sorry." Yuma looked confused. "I did not understand your feelings regarding your parents, and so I acted thoughtlessly and without regard to your feelings." Yuma wiped off his cheeks, watched as Tetsuko went over to Fuya and Mrs. Okudaira while Kotori stayed at his side.

"Kotori," Yuma said as he held The Emperor's Key in his hand, "have I ever told you, when my parents first disappeared, sometimes I thought this was to blame?" Kotori shook her head. "It's stupid, I know, but it was the last thing they'd brought back, so even though it was their treasure, there was that part of me that wanted to think that if I broke it they'd come right back, like some sort of trade or something; I don't know, I was even dumber then than I am now if you can believe that." Ah, that explained the sheer extent of his animosity towards him; indeed, he'd been utterly clueless about everything, and baselessly thought himself superior in every regard.

"Yeah, that was pretty dumb, but like you said, you're smarter than you were back then, and you're going to keep getting smarter." She jabbed him in the shoulder. "Like just now, there's no way the you of a few days ago would have been able to come up with a combo like that."

"Heh heh, well," Yuma looked up at him, "lately, I've been getting these really good ideas, even if they don't make sense sometimes."

Following that, the doors burst open as police officers entered; they questioned everyone as apparently there was a failure in the recording equipment, but Mrs. Okudaira explained to them that there'd simply been a special effects malfunction, and they did not press the matter any further. After that, they said their goodbyes, and Tetsuko dropped Yuma off at his home before taking Kotori off to hers. Yuma went into his house, told his family a truncated version of what had happened, had dinner with them, and went up to his room.

"Hey, Astral?" Yuma said as he picked up a picture of a man and a woman holding The Emperor's Key. "You think you'd still like to know about them? My mom and dad I mean?"

"I would be honored."

Yuma grinned. "Okay, first thing you've got to know is that my mom, oh man she was the smartest ever, you think Kotori's smart but my mom was like a hundred million times smarter than that, and my dad, there was no limit to the crazy stuff he'd try to do that she said couldn't be done, didn't matter how many times it blew up in his face, so now you've got to be wondering how they even got together if they were so different? Well, according to Grandma…"


	3. Chapter 3

Trust

"Tetsuo." He looked back over his shoulder from his desk and saw withered old Principal Omura standing in the doorway to the classroom. "I need to speak with you," he said in that raspy voice of his. Tetsuo got up, racked his brain for something he might have done as he went out into the hall with the wrinkled, liver-spotted old man.

"Yes, Principal Omura?" To Tetsuo it looked like his arm was thicker than the old man's waist, and so he spoke softly around him.

"I've just gotten word," Principal Omura cleared his throat, "that there was a robbery at your home."

"The hell?!" Tetsuo yelled in Principal Omura's face, the folds of his skin rippling from the force. Tetsuo turned around.

"Young man," Principal Omura said, his voice possessing that power that all old people seemed to have, stopping him in his tracks, "I did not tell you this to have you run out of school in the middle of the day." Tetsuo growled, turned back around. "I simply wanted you to have time to compose yourself so that when you return home at the end of the school day, you will be able to support your family in their time of need."

"So…they're okay then?"

"They're shaken up, as one would expect, but it is my understanding that no physical altercation took place." Good thing too; the crooks would be suing from their hospital beds if they'd picked a fight with his Mom, that's what Tetsuo told himself. "That is the sum total of my knowledge, and thus I expect that you will return to your teacher so that you might continue your education, even in trying times such as these."

"Yes sir, Mr. Principal." Tetsuo bowed to the old man, the old man turned to return to his office, hobbling on his cane, and Tetsuo went back into the classroom and went back into his seat. Tetsuo focused, but the teacher's lecture was so much 'wah wah wah, blah blah blah', going on and on about chemical bonds and junk he'd never be using in his life; yeah, he'd stick around like the principal said, but unless the teacher started talking about criminal law and the punishment for robberies and stuff like that, he wasn't going to learn jack squat.

Then the bell rang, and everyone got up and put away their stuff. "Hey Tetsuo." Yuma said as he walked over from his seat. "So, what did the Principal tell you? You were real quiet when you came back in." Yuma glanced off into the air while touching at his pendant, The Emperor's Key; it wasn't like Yuma didn't fiddle with it regularly, and it wasn't like he didn't have his head in the clouds a lot of the time, but ever since that duel with Shark…

"I'll explain on the way back to my place." Kotori had joined them, she and Yuma had the same look on their faces; they were always tag-teaming him like that. "Well? Come on!" They did, and once they were out the gates, once they were walking along by themselves Tetsuo told them what Principal Omura had told him.

"You're kidding?!" Yep, that was Yuma's response. "Oh man, no wonder you were out of it the rest of the day."

"For them to have robbed you during the day…you're really lucky nothing happened to Tetsuko or your mom." And that was Kotori's. "Do you know if anyone got a good look at who they were?"

"No clue; Principal Omura just gave me the bare-bones deal, just wanted me to know that much before I went home." He was going to find out more, he was going to find out everything his sis and his mom knew and then he was going to take that and…!

"Tetsuo!" He was swept up in his mother Tetsumi's arms, and she squeezed him so hard he thought he was going to pass out! "Thank goodness you're okay!"

"Mom!" Tetsuo said, his voice muffled. "Get off!" He shoved against her for all the good that did; she didn't let go until she was good and ready. Now that he could see again, he saw that they'd already gotten back to his home; he must have been going faster than he'd realized. "You're okay right?" She looked okay, Principal Omura said they were okay, but still…

"Me and your sister, we're a little spooked but we're just fine as you can see." Tetsuo looked past the door with the closed sign on it, looked through the window and saw his sister standing inside, looking out; it sent a shiver down Tetsuo's spine, seeing her like that. "Come on in kids," his mom said as she included Yuma and Kotori, "we'll explain everything inside."

Tetsuo followed his mom inside, Yuma and Kotori right behind him; there were two or three pieces left in the jewelry displays, but that still left a lot of missing diamond rings and ruby earrings and sapphire necklaces and all sorts of stuff. "Hey Mom, hey Little Brother." His sister said as she stood there, her voice a little distant. "Good thinking bringing your little friends along, we could use the company." She looked at them…what the heck was with her eyes? He looked back at Yuma and Kotori, Kotori looked away but Yuma's poor excuse for a poker face gave him away; something was up, and it had to do with the robbery, but…what could that possibly be? "Hey Mom? Do you think you could go and get some…uh, oranges?"

Tetsuo's mom looked at his sister for a moment. "Sure thing dear, I won't be long, you got that?" His sister nodded. "You kids behave yourselves now, I found out there's been any horseplay in here and you'll be feeling it all over your hides for weeks, you got that?" Yuma and Kotori gulped and nodded, and Tetsuo's mom took off.

"Okay." Tetsuo watched his sister let out a sigh. "I couldn't say anything before 'cuz my mom would have thought I was losing my mind," she was addressing Yuma and Kotori directly, he wasn't even part of this conversation, "but you kids remember what happened with Fuuya the other day, right?"

"Of course." Kotori said, while Yuma looked up and off to the side. "You, you don't mean that…"

"You really think so?" Yuma said as he looked at the wall. Then he looked back at all of them. "Uh, that is, I think that Fuuya was probably chasing after those crooks, 'cause the Number told him to."

"Fuuyal? Number?" Tetsuo looked at the three of them; his sister hiding stuff from him, yeah he expected that, but Yuma and Kotori?

"Fuuya, he's the guy who plays Esper Star Robin, and he got possessed by one of the Numbers, like Shark did, and he mentioned that he'd been pursuing somebody, or something, and so maybe the Numbers are um, trying to find one another, or something?"

Tetsuo pressed his fingers against his temples, turned to his sister. "What exactly did you see, that makes you think these…Numbers, have anything to do with anything?" The most he ever saw from Shark was him flipping out and acting like he was going crazy.

"It's like this," His sister leaned forward, put her elbows down on the table to support herself, "when I took Yuma and Kotori to see Fuuya, he flipped out and made his mother vanish and did a whole bunch of, of supernatural junk, and the robbers today…one of them just tapped the locks with their fingers and they opened right up, and the other one rolled a die and all the lights were out, it was completely pitch black and…" She groaned, "I ran, okay? I ran off to my room and hid myself in there; it'd have been one thing if they'd been using guns and knives and wrenches, but what they were doing…"

"It's okay Tetsuko, we understand." Kotori said. She stood up, took out her D-Gazer. "Yuma, I'm going to call Akari, see what she's heard about these crooks."

"Good idea!" Yuma said. "I bet she's already cracking the case as we speak!" They watched Kotori step out so that she wouldn't have to deal with interruptions or distractions. "You see Tetsuko? We'll catch them and take their Numbers and drag them back here so you can scare the pants off them!"

"Yuma!" Tetsuo slammed his hand on the table. "You knew this was happening, and you didn't say anything, and you think you can just go off and say you're going to fix it like that?!" Tetsuo stood up. "I'm supposed to trust a screw-up like you who can't do anything right?"

"Tetsuo!" His sister said as she slammed her fist on the table, her tone normal for her again. "Your best friend is offering to help us and this is how you act?"

"Please, how many times have you laughed your ass off when I've told you about Yuma's latest screw-ups? Yuma, don't even bother doing anything, I'm taking care of this myself!" Tetsuo turned and stormed his way to the door, only for Kotori to be standing in the doorway, and despite the size advantage he had on her, her glare cut him down to size like that.

"Before you ask, I think everyone three blocks overheard you, and while I could let you run out and figure out that you really are friends with Yuma on your own, your family comes first."

"You…" Tetsuo grumbled. "You know I'm mad at you too, right? You knew too, and you didn't say anything to me at all; Yuma not thinking to say anything, I almost expect that, but you not saying anything?"

Kotori looked away. "Well, how were we supposed to tell you? Were we just supposed to walk up to you and say 'oh hey, it turns out Yuma wasn't going out of his mind in his duel with Shark, he did release magical cards that are possessing people and there's no telling the damage they'll do if we don't do anything?"

"…Anything sounds stupid when you say it like that." Tetsuo shook his head. "The point is you excluded me again!"

"Again?" Kotori's eyes widened. "Ugh, yeah, I suppose you have a point there." She breathed in deep through her nose. "Look, we'll figure this out later; right now we should get in there, Akari told me something really important." Tetsuo nodded, returned to the living room with Kotori and sat back down again. "Okay, you guys heard the rumors about how there was a break-in at Mr. Heartland's?" They all nodded. "According to Akari, there was one, but before anyone could publish anything, Mr. Heartland had the whole thing quashed. She had to delete what she had down, but she remembered enough that she thinks it sounds like the same duo."

"Huh?" Tetsuo blinked several times. "Why would Mr. Heartland do something like that? He's the freaking mayor, why would he get in the way of apprehending anyone who tried to rob him?"

"Maybe he just doesn't want to admit someone got past his security?" Yuma said. "Remember last year, he was bringing in a circus troupe and when they didn't show up, he just totally lost it." Despite everything, Tetsuo snickered at the memory; the bombastic and exuberant mayor of Heartland city throwing a temper tantrum like a little kid in front of everyone, how was anyone not supposed to laugh at something like that?

"Whatever the case," Kotori said, "We shouldn't expect the police to catch them anytime soon, so if we want to close this case, we're going to have to take care of it ourselves."

"All right then." Tetsuo felt his blood flow steady, "There's a guy I know, a real weasel, but if we're going to get to the bottom of this, we're going to have to talk to him and find out what he knows."

"All right kiddos!" Tetsuo heard his Mom come on, watched her enter the room and put down a big bag of oranges onto the table. "Nothing like Vitamin C to get your brain back together, right Tetsuko?"

"Yeah, that's right Mom." Tetsuko reached into the bag and pulled out a small orange; following her lead everyone took out an orange to peel and eat. "Hey mom?" Tetsuko said after she finished her orange.

"Yes dear?"

"I think I'd like to take the kids home, and then I'm going to hang out with Akari for a while."

Tetsuo saw his mother smile. "You go right ahead, but if anything happens I want you to call me right away, you got that?"

"Of course Mom." She got up, they all got up, and they followed her out the door, which Tetsuko closed behind them. "All right Tetsuo, where are we going to find this weasel of yours?"

"This time of day? At the mall."

"Okay then, get in my car."

* * *

"Ah, Tetsuo!" The shrimpy little guy with the shrimpy little bowler hat on his head said, seated behind a little makeshift desk on a tiny rolling chair. "Have a seat, have a seat, it's been too long."

"I could dispute that Tokunosuke." The imp snickered, caught the lamplight on his teeth as he grinned while Tetsuo took the chair on his side of the desk. It creaked under his weight.

"I'm going to have to disagree with your disputing, Tetsuo." Tokunosuke took out a bottle from under his desk; Tetsuo rolled his eyes, it was just soda but the way he poured it out you'd think it was fine sparkling wine. "So tell me, who do you need dirt on that you can't just beat down into oblivion?" He pointed to a file cabinet in the corner; it was empty, simply there for effect, all the data Tokunosuke had was in his D-Gazer, currently disguised as an ordinary pair of glasses.

"Oh, I can beat them, you better believe it." Tetsuo brought his fist into his palm. "What I need is to find out where the hell they're hiding."

"Oh ho, got them on the run have you?" Tokunosuke snickered. "Now, this is just between you and me, right? Your little goody-two-shoe," Tokunosuke made finger quotes as he said the next word, "friends", he ceased, "they're not hovering right outside my office as we speak, are they?"

"You think I'd drag them along here? Tch, they think I'm getting the latest comic books right now." Tokunosuke narrowed his eyes, but Tetsuo kept up his poker face. "Look," Tetsuo reached into his pocket and pulled out a die, the one Tetsuko had said the one criminal had used, black with white bands across the edges, "you tell me, where would you go to get a die like this one? 'cause this doesn't look like it goes to any game I've ever heard of."

Tokunosuke held his hand out, Tetsuo dropped the die onto it, watched it roll around before Tokunosuke closed his fist. "Oh ho, so you're going after those robbers, the one's that not even Mr. Heartland's fabled security system could do a thing about?" He grinned as he tapped on the side of his glasses, the lenses turning blue as their true funciton as a D-Gazer was activated. "You've gotten gutsy Tetsuo, and I've got to tell you, guts are something that this operation of mine could really use."

"The things your operation could use could fill a thumb drive." Tetsuo groaned, Tokunosuke kept rolling the die around in his hand.

"And I'm sure that with what they took from your family, they'd be able to buy all the memory they could ever need." He stopped rolling the die, put it down on his desk. "Still, even after that theft, I'm sure you have something to offer me besides your guts."

"Well, you tell me." Tetsuo put down the money he'd been saving for a new motorized skateboard. "This enough for you to actually do your job?"

"Plenty." Tokunouske took the money and pocketed it. "This brand of die was only ever sold at one game shop, and they went out of business a little over a week ago, and since you're such a good customer of mine, I'll even throw in directions, free of charge."

"That's good." Tetsuo put on his D-Gazer, saw the map overlaid over his vision. "Anything else you'd like to tell me? Any rumors you've heard about them?"

"There's always rumors, always people whispering in the shadows, and sometimes you have to cut through the chaff to get at the kernel of truth, and the kernel I've found about these two is that they've got a loud bark but their bite's a little gummy if you catch my drift." Like that was hard to get. "In any event, this is another favor tallied up from me to you, so make sure you don't get in over your head, because I'd like to be able to call on your help sometime."

"Yeah yeah, you always do." Tetsuo left Tokunosuke's office and double-checked where he figured the twerp kept his hidden camera just outside; he couldn't be certain of course; if he tried to confirm that it was where he thought it was, Tokunosuke would just have it moved somewhere else, but there were only so many places where he'd get a good view and still be able to keep it out of sight.

"So, did the troll give you the intel?" His sister said, standing with Yuma and Kotori where Tokunosuke's hidden camera wouldn't be able to pick them up if it was where he thought it was.

"If he gave us a red herring, it won't take us long to find out." He shared the directions with them, transmitting the information directly to their D-gazers.

"Hey, I think...yeah, I've heard of this place before." Yuma said. "Akari did a piece on them, interviewed the owners...um, what was it that they'd said..." Yuma rubbed his head. "Something about the two guys who used to own it...?"

"Izumi's best friend, and Chinira's husband." Yuma's sister's voice sounded through his D-Gazer. "Kotori's been keeping me in the loop, and so the moment you guys got those directions, I double-checked that article of mine." When had she...probably back when she'd first called Akari. "After the construction accident that had killed them, the Silver Moon game shop passed to Izumi and Chinira, along with all the attendant debts. They were determined to keep it up and running and pay off what was owed, and for a while things were looking good..."

"...But desperate times call for desperate measures." Tetsuko said, gripping her fist. "Okay, Akari, try and get a hold of the police, see if you can't find a way to get them to stop sitting on this case, me and the kids are going on ahead to make sure they don't do anymore damage."

"Tetsuko...fine, I'd probably be out for blood too. Just make sure Yuma and the others are safe, you got that? I really don't want to have to go after you, you know that right?"

"Trust me, I'm not going to let it get dangerous for them."

"Good; I'm calling up the police now." Akari disconnected.

"All right, let's get a move on." Tetsuo clenched his fist and ran to his sister's car. The others caught up, got in, and they drove off.

Tetsuko was completely focused on the road, her hands tight on the wheel and her foot hard on the gas pedal. "Tetsuo." He looked over at Kotori, who was seated on the other end of the backseat with Yuma in between them. "Yuma has something he needs to tell you."

Tetsuo furrowed his brow at Yuma, who took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, Kotori and I, we've both had a really bad habit of leaving you out of the loop, haven't we?" Tetsuo kept silent, so Yuma kept talking. "It-it's not that we don't, you know, trust you, it's just, well, Kotori and I, we go back a little bit further, you know?"

"I know that." Tetsuo harrumphed. "We've still been friends longer than we haven't, haven't we? It didn't bug me before, at first, but how much longer is this gonna go on for?" Tetsuo looked down.

"H-hey!" Yuma said, shaking his fist. "I already said me and Kotori trust you, and after what we've all been through..."

"Yuma." Kotori said. "If we want Tetsuo to know that we trust him, than we have to show him, not just tell him or remind him."

Good luck on that, Tetsuo muttered to himself, a tight grip on his grievance, fist clenched and ready for the criminals who'd kicked the whole thing off. "We're here." How long had he been clenching his fist for anyway? Tetsuo looked up and saw a small gameshop with a full moon decoration by itself across the street, not far from the mall, not much parking, not much of anything really, except for the closed sign lit up over the door and the Obots scrounging around for anything to pick up. "Okay, let's get this all clear before we get out." Tetsuko said, unrelenting in her grip on the steering wheel. "Right, first things first, Kotori's going to disable the lock on the front door and then Yuma, you're going to have to go in there and challenge Izumi and Chinira, meanwhile Kotori and I are going to see if we can't find where they've stashed the loot in there; it doesn't look like a big place from out here, but who knows what kinds of tricks they've got to hide it all."

"And that's assuming they haven't fenced it already of course." Kotori said, making Tetsuo grind his teeth together; the thought of his mother's jewelry in the hands of some greasy grimy crook, sold off to some dishonest creep who wouldn't bother paying for it legally, Tetsuo forced his door open.

"You want to help Yuma, I'm not going to stop you, but this is my duel, you got that?!" Yuma and the others got out. "You screw this up for me, you let those crooks get away with what they've done, I'm never forgiving you, you got that?" Tetsuo put on his D-Pad, readied his D-Gazer.

Yuma looked to Kotori, passed over an Obot grabbing a discarded soda can, and turned back to him. "All I'm going to say is I'm not the enemy here." Yuma took out his D-Pad and D-Gazer and set them in place.

Kotori advanced ahead of them, using her D-Pad to disable the electronic lock that wouldn't have budged if Tetsuko had rammed her car into the front door...well, maybe not that much, but that would have made a way bigger mess than the one they were trying to clean up, so this was the best way of going about things, just like Tetsuko had said.

"Ready...now!" At Kotori's signal Tetsuo kicked down the door; inside, past shelves of old unsold merchandise, was a table where two women were seated pouring over various paper forms; one had rough pale skin, blue clothes, and long tangled brown hair, and the other had smooth black skin, red clothes, and a short black afro.

"Who are you brats?" The pale woman said as she stood up, her voice coarse and worn. "Get out before we call the police!"

"Sorry, but I'm afraid that's what we're going to be doing once we take care of you two." Yuma said, fist clenched as the black woman stood up.

"Young man, I would advice against making unfounded accusations, we are no mood for that sort of thing." She spoke with refined indignation.

"Uh uh, you're not saying you didn't rob my place." Tetsuo pulled out the die. "I have it on good authority you're the only place that ever sold this kind of die, so you're guilty, plain and simple!"

"Is that a matter of fact?" The pale woman turned to her companion. "I guess you did forget something after all Chinira."

"It's no matter Izumi, I've got good odds on fixing this in just a moment." Chinira took out a die from her pocket, identical to the one in Tetsuo's. "Don't worry kids, this probably won't hurt too badly." Tetsuo grimaced as it became painful to look at the die, something kept him from looking at it directly. "But it will get you out of our hair."

Chinira threw the die, Tetsuo braced himself like it was red hot meteorite or something, when suddenly the die was just a die again, and fell to the floor like any other die. "Sorry again, but I'm not going to let you use the Numbers like that." Yuma was holding out his pendent, The Emperor's Key, and...no, it couldn't be glowing, that was just stupid, right?. "Just hand them over now, before..."

"Oh, so you have the others." Izumi said, the look in her eye becoming more vicious than before.

"Yes, I can tell, he has the one that almost caught us before." Chinira said, the same malice in hers. "We better get them from him right away." She took out a D-Pad and D-Gazer, and Izumi did the same.

"Hey, you're not taking on Yuma alone!" Two vs. Two, a Tag Duel where each team would share a field and grave. Tetsuo looked to Yuma. "Just tell me what we're in for with these Numbers of theirs."

Yuma stammered a bit before responding. "I don't know, they're all different; all we can count on is that you can't beat one in battle without another one." Yuma drew his cards. "Don't worry though, I've got an ace up my sleeve, you can count on me!"

"Just don't slow me down Yuma." Tetsuo drew his cards, Izumi and Chinira drew theirs, and Tetsuo took the first turn. "I'll start by setting a monster, and then I activate Gearspring Catapult." The store seemed to stretch and warp to accommodate the big honking machine that was just behind Tetsuo, all a trick done through Augmented Reality. "During each of mine and Yuma's standby phases, I add a Gearspring counter to this card, and during my turn I can use these counters to increase the attack power of one of my monsters by 500 points until the end phase." Only Numbers could beat Numbers, eh? Ha, he'd figure something out! "Now I'll set one card and end my turn!"

"Turn 2, Yuma Tsukumo and Tetsuo Takeda: 4000 life points, Izumi and Chinira: 4000 life points."

Now the duel shifted to Chinira and Izumi, and Izumi went first; it was okay though, Tetsuo had set his defenses well. "My turn." Izumi drew her card. "I discard Gravekeeper's Commandant from my hand to the grave and add Necrovalley from my deck to my hand, and then activate Necrovalley." The earth rose up all around them and the sun was low and red in the sky, casting long shadows over the mausoleums. "Modeled after the valley of the dead, here you will fall and never rise again while our dream will live again."

"That's right." Yuma said. "Your best friend, he worked with Chinira's husband to try and make this place come to life, and you're just making sure that it gets off the ground."

"Who cares about their excuses?!" Tetsuo turned on Yuma. "They robbed from my family, they robbed from others too, and they didn't give a damn about the trouble they caused, so why should we care about theirs?"

"Argh, it's the Numbers, the Numbers are messing with their heads! And besides, if I didn't care about their excuses, we wouldn't be here either!"

"What the hell does that mean?"

"Like Kotori said, I'm going to show you what I mean." Speaking of, Tetsuo saw Kotori and Tetsuko running past them, neither Izumi nor Chinira took notice of them; either they were that confident that they wouldn't be able to find anything before the duel was over, or they were just that fixed on Yuma's Numbers.

"Enough of your prattle you brats." Izumi said, drawing their attention back to her. "So long as Necrovalley is in play, all Gravekeepers gain 500 attack and defense points, and no cards can be moved from the grave once they are sent there." A pained howl sounded out and ended before Tetsuo could place it. "Now then, I'll set one monster and one card to end my turn."

"Turn 3: Yuma Tsukumo and Tetsuo Takeda: 4000 life points, Izumi and Chinira: 4000 life points."

Tetsuo groaned; now Yuma was in control of their side of the field, which meant his only hope was if Yuma really did have some dueling spirit or whatever like he'd said after his duel with Shark. "My turn!" Yuma drew his card then looked off to the side, towards Kotori and Tetsuko. Gearspring Catapult turned its dial, ratcheting up its first Gearspring Counter. "Right, I've got it!" Yuma looked back at Tetsuo. "Sorry man, but we've got to get rid of this Necrovalley right away." Yuma faced his opponents before Tetsuo could respond. "I sacrifice Tetsuo's face down Road Roller to summon Chachaka Archer!"

"Yuma!" Not only did Road Roller have 2100 defense points, but it could switch the monster that attacked it into face-down defense position, and he gave up that for Chachaka Archer? What was he even doing with that in his deck, it was a level 6 monster with only 1200 attack points!

"Relax, I know it's not the best but this will work!" Yuma held his arm out. "Once per turn, Chachaka Archer can destroy one spell or trap card on the field, so I'm getting rid of Necrovalley before it can get in our way!" The lightly armored warrior, long blue hair trailing behind, aimed a crossbow in each hand, and fired; the bolts became brilliant fireballs that burned down Necrovalley, bringing them back into the Silver Moon Gameshop. "You don't have to resort to this sort of thing, you've got other options if you just keep trying."

"Tsukumo..." Chinira said. "That's right, Akari Tsukumo interviewed us for an article; you must be her younger brother." Her eyes narrowed. "You did not read the article, not closely, you do not know all else that we've tried before reaching this point, do not presume to lecture your elders on matters you are not capable of understanding."

"Yeesh, you two are just as stubborn as Tetsuo." Yuma grinned. "Looks like I'm going to have to prove you guys wrong as well! I start by activating Tetsuo's face-down card, Spikeshield with Chain!" Chachaka Archer lowered the crossbows and took in its hands a shield with a unicorn design, complete with horn, and a spiked chain attached to it, increasing its attack power by 500 points.

"Yuma, that's a trap card you idiot!" Tetsuo grabbed Yuma's collar and thus his attention. "If the equipped monster is attacked while in defense, it gets to add its attack power to its defense, so if you hadn't sacrificed Road Roller, we would have had a monster with 3200 defense points! Now we're stuck with just 1700 attack points, that won't get us anywhere!"

"Right, so that's why I'm also using Gearspring Catapult's effect to get another 500 attack points!" Yuma's monster jumped onto Tetsuo's card, and the dial turned to launch it off into the air, giving it 2200 attack points in all. "Now with Necrovalley gone, we should have enough attack power to take out your face-down defense monster!" Tetsuo gritted his teeth; if Yuma was wrong, if this attack didn't get through...

"Gravekeeper's Spy has only 2000 defense points." Izumi said as a slight young man appeared, half blended against the ground, and when Chachaka Archer landed, the spy was no more. "However, at this time it's Flip Effect activates, special summoning a Gravekeeper with 1500 attack power or less from my deck, so I'll take Gravekeeper's Recruiter from my deck now." A bald man with a heavily tattooed head stood where Gravekeeper's Spy had been slain, and Chachaka Archer stepped back to Tetsuo and Yuma's side of the field. "Furthermore, at this time I will activate my face-down card, Rite of Spirit, and special summon Gravekeeper's Commandant back from my grave." A man with a jackal mask appeared next to Gravekeeper's Recruiter. "As it so happens, Rite of Spirit would have ignored Necrovalley's restriction to begin with, so getting rid of that didn't make a difference at this stage." She smirked.

Yuma kept on smiling though. "But now we have access to our grave too." Yuma turned to Tetsuo. "And they're down one monster from if I'd just left them all alone."

"Fine, fine, it wasn't a total screw-up, but we're still in a really weak position thanks to you."

"Heh, you think that he...I, that I'd do this without a backup plan in mind?" Yuma turned back to their opponents. "I set two cards and end my turn."

"Turn 4: Yuma Tsukumo and Tetsuo Takeda: 4000 life points, Izumi and Chinira: 4000 life points."

"That was well played, given such lackluster means available to you, boy." Chinira drew her card. "However, no amount of determination or ingenuity will overcome the odds for you." She turned over a card in her hand. "I summon Umbral Ghoul and activate its effect." A creature with hard, rocky purple scales and a green cape appeared. "By reducing its attack power to zero, I can special summon an Umbral monster with zero attack power from my hand; come forth, Umbral Will o' The Wisp." Umbral Ghoul deflated, shrank in on itself and shriveled into almost nothing, and then it hacked up a ball of light shrouded in blue fire. "These creatures may look like nothing, they make look helpless and ineffectual, but I assure you that they have a power that will allow them to overcome at any cost." Red eyes glowed beneath Umbral Will o' the Wisp, hidden in the shadows cast by its bizarre and unearthly flame. "Now then, I overlay Ghoul with Commandant." That weird Galaxy spiral that appeared when Shark and Yuma summoned their Number monsters before appeared again. "Exceed Summon!" The spiral broke, exploded into light that consumed everything. "Infinite possibilities unfold beyond prediction, Number 85, Crazy Box!"

It began as a black featureless plane, then it rippled and folded out into a cube with bits jutting in and out at random, and there were gaps through which Tetsuo saw a creature with glowing red eyes, and it made a chill go up and down his spine. "3000 attack points?!" Yuma cried out, his jaw hanging open.

"And that's not all; once per turn I activate its effect by detaching an Exceed material." One of the orbs of light, Gravekeeper's Commandant, was snatched by the creature inside of Crazy Box and pulled into it. "I now roll a die to determine the outcome." She pulled another die from her pocket and tossed it to the ground, and it landed on a 5. "This will let me destroy one card on the field, so I think I'll go for..." She took out a coin and flipped it, catching it on the back of her hand, "...the face-down card on my right." Crazy Box spun in place and rolled over to Yuma's card and crushed it, revealing that it was Puzzle Reborn, which could have brought Chachaka Archer back if it had been destroyed by Crazy Box's effect.

"Ha, man, you sure were lucky there, you got the right roll and you picked the right card." Yuma said, expression caught between grimacing over the loss of his card and awe at what his opponent had just managed; any other time Tetsuo wouldn't be bugged by that, but against the thieves who'd freaking robbed his home...

"Lucky." Chinira looked down at the ground. "A widow already at my age, debt collectors nipping at our heels, and you think we're lucky?" Chinira chuckled darkly. "I switch Gravekeeper's Recruiter to attack position, and then equip Umbral Will o' the Wisp with Shadow Blot." The blue fireball turned pitchblack, still radiating a bizarre light in spite of that fact. "and then I attack Chachaka Archer with Will o' the Wisp."

Chinira's monster darted across the battlefield, black fire trailing behind it along the ground. "Shadow Blot reduces all damage I would take in this battle to zero." Just as Will o' the Wisp was within reach, Chachaka archer fired twin bolts into it, stopping it where it was. "Furthermore, when destroyed and sent to the grave by battle, your monster is destroyed." The black fire lashed out and consumed Chachaka Archer, who writhed and twisted on the ground until only ash was left of it; also, Tetsuo had felt some of those embers get way too close, and they were way too real, no amount of Augmented Reality made dueling feel like that. "Now to attack you directly." Gravekeeper's Recruiter ran up to the boys, charged its fists with dark energy, and punched them both in the guts at the same time for 1200 points of damage

"S-sorry Tetsuo, didn't count on something like that." Sorry? "Eh?" Yuma looked off to the side. "Oh, whoo, should have known."

"Known what?"

"That Number 85 can't attack, in accordance with its own effect." Chinira said. "You boys are very lucky that way." She chuckled. "It's so strange, seeing the look of relief on your faces; usually little boys like you are terribly disappointed when their toys don't work right."

"L-little? We're 13 years old!" Yuma yelled out.

"Besides, it's not our toy, it's yous!" Tetsuo shouted in the same tone.

"True, true, I was just daydreaming a moment, of how things would be if not for that fateful day, when all good fortune left our lives." She looked to Izumi, who was looking down at the ground. "Don't worry, our fortune is returning, we're getting out second chance here and now." Chinira focused back on them. "At the end of the battle phase, when the equipped monster is destroyed by battle, Shadow Blot returns to my hand." The card flew out of her grave and she caught it with her other hand, shuffling it up with the other cards in her hand. "Then I set one card and end my turn."

"Turn 5: Yuma Tsukumo and Tetsuo Takeda: 2800 life points, Izumi and Chinira: 4000 life points."

"My turn!" Tetsuo drew his card, swore to himself that he'd get them out of the pit that Yuma had dug them into. "I add a Gearspring counter to Gearspring Catapult, and then I summon Strong Shovel Excavator from my hand." A big red excavating machine rolled onto the field with 1800 attack points. "Then I equip Strong Shovel Excavator with Spring Punch and activate Gearspring Catapult's effect." Tetsuo's monster rolled onto the catapult while a spring-loaded boxing glove was attached to the end of it. "When the equipped machine monster gains attack power, I can activate Spring Punch's effect to inflict damage equal to half of my monster's attack power at the cost of skipping my battle phase."

The Gearspring Catapult launched Strong Shovel Excavator up a short distance and upon crashing onto the ground the boxing glove launched and smashed the ground right between Izumi and Chinira, rubble passing right through them both for 1150 points of damage.

Then Tetsuo looked at the face-down card that Yuma had left on the field, Ego Boost; if he used that now, he'd be able to do another 1650 points of damage, bringing Izumi and Chinira down to 1200 life points...but that would mean that if they summoned something that could take down his monster, they wouldn't have a way of fighting back, Ego Boost's effect only lasted until the end phase was over. Then again, what if next turn Izumi drew something to get rid of Ego Boost? If they held onto it too long, it could end up going to waste. "Tetsuo." Yuma was looking right at him; what, was he going to tell him what he could or couldn't do with the card he'd put down on the field? "Just remember, okay?"

Remember? Remember what? Argh, whatever! He'd keep the important stuff in mind, he wasn't going to forget what mattered most! "I set one card and end my turn." He wasn't going to stoop to Yuma's level, he wasn't go waste his card the way he did with his.

"Turn 6, Yuma Tsukumo and Tetsuo Takeda: 2800 life points, Izumi and Chinira: 2850 life points."

"And now it's my turn again." Izumi said, drawing her card the way someone would have drawn a sword...or a switch. "In all honesty, I don't have much affection for kids like you; that was always my best friend's thing, he just loved kids, loved making them happy, loved the idea of being able to make a living doing just that...even if I couldn't understand it, I still respected it, and that dream is not one I will have dumped and forgotten in the grave along with him! I detach Umbral Ghoul from Number 85 and activate its effect!" Izumi reached over and grabbed a stray die and threw it to the ground. "A 2, meaning I can now draw one card." She did, meaning she now had 5 cards in her hand, meaning she could do a whole lot stuff beyond what was already on the field. "I activate Gravekeeper's Stele and add Commandant and Spy back to my hand."

"Crap!" Tetsuo couldn't help himself; with Commandant back in her hand, that meant...

"I discard Commandant to add a second Necrovalley from my deck to my hand, and activate it!" Damn it! Now his Call of the Haunted was useless, he couldn't get any of their monsters back from the grave! Yeah, he could activate it now, chain it and resolve it before Necrovalley was on the field and in effect, but rushing and grabbing monsters now would probably just wreck things even more. "Now I summon Gravekeeper's Descendant." A man with thick blonde hair, a rod in one hand and a sly expression on his face, and with Necrovalley in effect he had 2000 attack points. "With Descendant's effect, I now sacrifice Recruiter to destroy Strong Shovel Excavator." Descendant reached into Recruiter's chest and ripped out its soul before throwing it into Tetsuo's monster like some sort of bomb, blowing his monster to smithereens. "And now that Recruiter's been sent to the grave, its effect is activated, allowing me to add a Gravekeeper with 1500 defense or less from my deck to my hand, so I'll be taking Gravekeeper's Spearsoldier from my deck now."

Damn it, had they ever been in a situation this remotely bad, with this much on the line? "Knock it off!" Huh? That, that sounded like Yuma, but he was keeping his mouth shut, for once, and besides which his voice sounded weirdly high just then.

"Now I activate From the Valley." Izumi didn't look like she'd heard anything. "When Necrovalley is in play, I can banish a Gravekeeper in my grave to special summon a level-4 or lower Gravekeeper in my hand, but that monster can't attack the turn it is summoned. Come forth, Gravekeeper's Spearsoldier." Recruiter's remains were removed from one of the tombs that surrounded them, and the new warrior appeared on the field. "Now, with that taken care of, I overlay Spearsoldier and Descendant to Exceed Summon my own Number!" The spiral galaxy was back again, and after a few moments Tetsuo was almost bowled over by the sheer force of the explosion of light. "There are no barriers or barricades that can't be pierced! Number 66, Master Key Beetle!"

It began as a little thing, a question mark with a point a lot like the Emperor's Key, and then it transformed into a beetle with a truly vicious looking horn and 2500 attack points. "At the end of our ropes, when we thought that everything was going to be taken from us, that's when we found these cards." She looked from her own Number to Chinira's. "They gave us the power we needed, and we're not going to let go of them no matter what! I activate Master Key Beetle's effect and detach Spearsoldier; now, so long as Master Key Beetle is on the field, Necrovalley can't be destroyed!" Master Key Beetle turned to face up, and in the ceiling a keyhole appeared; Master Key Beetle shot a beam of light and the distinct clicking sound of tumblers turning over sounded in their ears. "With all that taken care of, now I'll strike you impudent brats down!"

Master Key Beetle launched itself forward and then swung from side to side, striking Tetsuo and Yuma away from one another, slamming them into opposite walls where they slumped down, reeling from the pain of their blows; Tetsuo couldn't wrap his head around it, this was stuff out of musty old history, the kind of thing that used to happen in Neo-Domino City, not Heartland! "T-Tetsuo, you okay?" Yuma said, arm wrapped around his chest.

"Yeah." Tetsuo put his foot down and hissed as he bit down on his lip; had he broken something?

"Tetsuo!" He looked up and saw his sister running up to him. "Easy there, your ankle's looking real swollen, see?" She pulled down on one of his socks and yeah, it was looking pretty bad. "Here, let me help you up."

"But, what about looking for..." Tetsuo groaned as Tetsuko hefted him up.

"Oh, we found all that a little while ago." He looked over and saw Kotori doing much the same thing with Yuma. "There was a hidden panel in the ceiling, and it wasn't just the jewelry from your place, there were a whole bunch of other things up there as well." She said as she pointed to a random part of the ceiling. "They put in some real tricky security to keep us from even finding it, much less opening it up and getting at it, but Tetsuko and I manageed something."

"Heh, you see Tetsuo?" Yuma had a cocky expression on his face, and before Tetsuo could answer, he turned back to Izumi and Chinira, who stood gob-smacked at how their loot had been found. "You haven't sold any of it yet, even though you need the money right away, don't you? Even with the Numbers messing with your heads you couldn't bring yourself to pawn any of it off, 'cause you knew that if you did there'd be no going back."

Izumi narrowed one eye while the other opened wide. "Are you kidding me? Ugh, this is what I really can't stand about stupid kids like you; you know nothing and you make worthless assumptions based on that nothing you know, and it's really irritating not being able to explain the truth to you, because you're too young to understand it!"

"I don't care!" There it was again! Yuma said something, but his voice was all high, and his mouth hadn't moved, and...this whole thing, this whole situation, there were differences yeah, but it was just like it was back then, back when Yuma had stood up for him when everyone in class was sure that he'd been the one who'd stolen everyone's D-Pads during lunch. "Who cares he knows Tokunosuke, that doesn't mean anything!" Good thing Yuma was already friends with Kotori, and he got her to help and she figured out that the janitor had misplaced them while cleaning the room up. Without them, he'd be up the river without a paddle, or even a boat.

"Yeah, well sorry about my friend here." Tetsuo said as he moved off of his sister's shoulder, the pain in his foot already going down. "He's got a real problem listening all right, and a lot of the time he doesn't know jack about what he's talking about; lucky for you though, he's right about this. But don't get me wrong, you might not be so bad like he says, but I'm still going to enjoy paying you two back for what you did to us!"

"Kch, whatever! Blather on whatever you like you brats, neither I nor Chinira are going to let you get in our way when we're so close! I end my turn."

"Turn7, Yuma Tsukumo and Tetsuo Takeda: 300 life points, Izumi and Chinira: 2850 life points."

"And now I'm taking my turn, and I'm turning this duel right around!" Yuma said as he drew his card. "Right, I'm setting things right here and now, first by adding a counter to Gearspring Catapult, and then I summon Gagaga Magician!" Yuma's monster stared down the Number monsters while Tetsuo's Gearspring Catapult turned its dial once again. "And now that I've done a normal summon, that means I get to special summon Kagetokage to the field." A reptile's shadow slithered up next to Gagaga Magician, and the reptile's eyes floated up over it. "Now, before anything else, I'm activating Gagagabolt and destroying one card on the field, and that card's going to be Master Key Beetle!"

Gagaga magician chanted and gathered its energy before throwing it right into Number 66. "Stupid brat; if my monster would be destroyed, I can instead send the card I've targeted with its effect to the grave in its place." The explosion spilled out all around Master Key Beetle, bringing down every last tomb in Necrovally before obliterating the valley itself.

"Heh, just like, uh, like I figured." Yuma snickered, drawing stares from everyone around him. "I just knew there had to be a trick like that to it, that if I wanted to get rid of Necrovalley, I'd have to aim a little off to the side, I guess."

"Yuma..." Tetsuo scratched his head, "how the heck did you come up with something like that?"

"And now, now that Necrovalley's gone, that means I can activate Tetsuo's Call of the Haunted to bring back his Strong Shovel Excavator, which comes back at level 4 with its own effect; now, now I get to overlay Kagetokage and Strong Shovel Excavator to Exceed Summon my Number, Number 39 Aspiring Emperor Hope!" Tetsuo had to admit, he really liked seeing Izumi and Chinira having to brace themselves in the face of Yuma's weird-ass Exceed monster. "And now I'll use Gearspring Catapult to give me another 500 attack points, giving me enough to beat down Master Key Beetle!" Launched real fast, Yuma's monster sliced its way through Izumi's with both swords with no trouble at all, destroying it for 500 points of damage.

"You...you..." Izumi's fist was shaking, her teeth were clenched.

"Keep calm." Chinira put her hand on Izumi's shoulder. "I'm still here, remember? We haven't lost yet, our goal is still within reach." She turned to Tetsuo and Yuma, Tetsuko and Kotori. "I'm really sorry about this, but none of you will be walking away, it's just much too dangerous for us now."

"That's all right, I know you don't mean it, not really, not deep deep down!" Tetsuo shook his head, could Yuma not let up on that for five seconds? "I end my turn."

"Turn 8, Yuma Tsukumo and Tetsuo Takeda: 300 life points, Izumi and Chinira: 2350 life points."

"Poor child." Chinira said as she drew her card, then chuckled. "You've summoned 'Hope', and now I have no choice but to break it." Her smile turned wan. "What must be, must be; I activate Recurring Nightmare to return Umbral Ghoul and Will o' the Wisp to my hand, and then I summon Will o' the Wisp and equip it once again with the Shadow Blot that I'd set on my previous turn." The black fire returned, and again it somehow illuminated the room despite how little sense that made. "Then, I equip Crazy Box with Midnight Spiked Armor." Black spikes erupted all across Chinira's monster. "The equipped Dark monster gains 1000 attack points but has its effect negated; we've already used up its Exceed materials, and its only other effect was to keep it from attacking, so this is no drawback at all for me." Her wan smile turned into a manic grin. "Now then," let's finish this up, shall we? Will o' the Wisp, attack Hope!"

"Not gonna happen, 'cause Hope negates your attack!" One orb of light absorbed, one attack blocked.

"Crazy Box, attack!" Chinira's monster turned onto a point and spun until it was a blur, then shot into Yuma's monster again.

"Hope!" Yuma negated the second attack, but that would be it.

"Your luck has run out on you boys, next turn everything will be finished."

"Turn 9, Yuma Tsukumo and Tetsuo Takeda: 300 life points, Izumi and Chinira: 2350 life points."

"Not yet it hasn't." Tetsuo grinned as he looked at the card he'd drawn. "I'll start by adding another counter to Gearspring Catapult and then I'll summon Geargiattacker." The dial turned yet again, and now an odd jet piloted by a cartoonish gear appeared before Tetsuo. "And now that I have a machine type monster on the field, I can activate Iron Call to special summon Strong Shovel Excavator back from the grave at level 4." Tetsuo gripped his empty fist as he finished assembling all his monsters. "Now I'll take Gagaga Magician, Geargiattacker, and Strong Shovel Excavator and overlay them into Tin Archduke!" It might not have been a number, no spiral of stars or any of that junk but he was going to show that those Numbers weren't so special after all!

And sure, Tin Archduke might have looked like some sort of old fashioned toy, but its effect would show that he wasn't playing around! "I activate Tin Archduke's effect! Once per turn, on either player's turn, I get to detach an Exceed material and change the battle position of one of my opponent's monsters, and I'm changing Number 85 Crazy Box to defense!" The Exceed material joined with Tin Archduke's sword and his monster held it forth, commanding Crazy Box into defense position; yes, while it might have had 4000 attack points, but it only had 300 defense points, and that wasn't the only wrinkle he was going to take advantage of. "And now, I'm going to attack Crazy Box with Tin Archduke!"

"Have you forgotten already?" Chinira shook her head sadly. "A Number can only be defeated by another...what the?!" Tin Archduke clanked its way over to Number 85, gears ground as it raised its sword, and when it dropped it cut clean through Number 85, destroying it. "How?!"

"You said it yourself; your monster's effects were negated, all of them, and that includes the one about not being destroyed in battle by a Non-Number monster!"

"Impressive." Huh? Tetsuo looked over at Yuma, but that wasn't his voice not now and not ever, but it came from Yuma's direction...eh, whatever! There was enough crazy stuff going on, hearing stupid voices wasn't going to be one of them.

"That's right, and now I'm ending my turn."

"Turn 10, Yuma Tsukumo and Tetsuo Takeda: 300 life points, Izumi and Chinira: 2350 life points."

"Luck, nothing but luck, and besides which, you didn't even attack with Hope anyway." Izumi said. "You should have sacrificed it to take out Will o' the Wisp, but you didn't."

"Yep; no point in throwing away my buddy's monster for no good reason." Yeah, it might not have been the absolute best play but he was sticking to it.

"You'll think twice about that, after I summon Gravekeeper's Priestess." A woman who's eyes were veiled by a big golden eye over her face and a golden snake staff in hand. "When there is no field-spell card in play, Gravekeeper's Priestess's effect makes it as though Necrovalley were in effect, which means that she will gain 500 attack points and you can't access the grave. Furthermore, Priestess's own effect raises the attack power of all Gravkeepers by 200, so her attack power increases to 1700 by her own effect." The shadows of the valley surrounded them. "And now, now I activate Spellbook of Power to increase Priestess's attack power by 1000, bringing her to 2700 attack points...but first, Will o' the Wisp will be attacking Aspiring Emperor Hope."

"I activate Tin Archduke's effect, and change Will o' the Wisp to defense!" The black fireball whipped around Yuma's monster and returned to Izumi's side of the field.

"As I expected of a shortsighted brat like you; now you've got nothing to keep Tin Archduke safe, and with Priestess's attack power, this one blow will finish you off; goodbye brats." The Priestess chanted, charged her ancient spell given to her by the Spellbook of Power.

"Ha, looks like you forgot about the card Yuma had set on his first turn."

"What?"

"I activate Ego Boost, and increase Tin Archduke's attack power by 1000 until the end phase!" Tin Archduke grew in stature until the ceiling warped to make room for him, and once at that size it was able to strike down Gravekeeper's Priestess for 500 points of damage."

"..." Izumi's breathing was slow and heavy. "...I end my turn."

"Turn 11, Yuma Tsukumo and Tetsuo Takeda: 300 life points, Izumi and Chinira: 1850 life points."

"My turn!" Yuma drew his cards. "See Tetsuo, I knew I could count on you!" Tetsuo smiled crookedly as he snorted. "Now then, I'll attack and destroy Will o' the Wisp with Hope, and then I'll attack directly with Tin Archduke!" Slash, slash, smash! It was over just like that, and when their life points hit zero, Izumi and Chinira collapsed the same way that Shark had after his duel with Yuma. "Whew," Yuma let out a sigh a moment later. "You guys okay now?"

"Physically, I suppose." Izumi said as Chinira helped her up.

"I can't believe we thought we were going to get away with that, what were we thinking?" Chinira rubbed her hand against her hair while looking down at the ground.

"I said it before, it's not your guys's faults, it was the Numbers, and, I know you're probably not going to believe me or anything, but the Numbers are all my fault." Yuma turned to Tetsuko and Kotori. "Have you guys called the cops yet?"

Kotori shook her head. "We figured it'd be best for you two to take care of things first before contacting the police." Tetsuko said.

"All right." Yuma turned to Tetsuo, braced himself. "Would it be all right, if we just returned everything back to everyone, without getting Izumi and Chinira arrested or anything? I mean, we know they wouldn't have done it without the Numbers, it wouldn't be right getting them in trouble because of me, don't you think?"

Tetsuo groaned, rubbed the back of his neck. "You always do this you know Yuma? You take all the fun out of revenge." He sighed. "What do you two think?"

They blinked several times. "You serious?" Izumi looked at them askance.

"No sense looking a gift horse in the mouth, right Izumi?"

"I suppose you have a point there Chinira." Izumi let out a sigh. "All right, we'll pack up everything and label them with who we got them from, it'll be up to you guys to take 'em all back." Izumi, Chinira, Kotori, and Tetsuko all grouped together to work on organizing all the stolen stuff, leaving Tetsuo and Yuma by themselves.

"Thanks for trusting me man." Yuma said. "I, I know I haven't explained everything yet, and it's not because I don't trust you, I just can't yet, but when I can, you'll be the first to know, you and Kotori are gonna be the first to know, you got that."

"That's fine, that's fine, 'cause you know what? Next time, I'm taking on one of those Numers on my own, and winning."

"Heh, if anyone out there could, it would be you."

"All right kiddos, we've got a busy evening ahead of us." Tetsuko said as she pointed to all the cases that they had to carry to her car. "Hop to it!"

"Yes'm!" Tetsuo, Kotori, and Yuma all said together, and they left the Silver Moon gameshop, seen only by the passing by Obots continuing their own work in peace.

* * *

"Pay attention Yuma, because you are going to need to remember this." Astral looked down at the boy who was seated on the floor of his room with his legs crossed over one another.

"You sure? I mean, you remember all this stuff now, so do I really need to be lectured on it?"

"Yes Yuma; as I have lost my memories once before, it is possible that I may lose them again; therefore, in addition to dueling for me, you will also keep record of what I have learned from the Numbers about my existence and its purpose." He paused. "Can I trust you with this, Yuma?"

"Okay, okay." Yuma scratched the back of his head. "So, lay it on me, what did you learn from those Numbers we just got back?"

"To begin, we must review what we have already learned, that the new information will have the proper context it needs for understanding." Astral waved his hand, and the images of the collected Numbers appeared before Yuma, floating up and down. "To begin with, Number 39: Aspiring Emperor Hope; you can consider as my core memory, the embodiment of my resolve to see my mission done." Hope flew into Astral's body. "The Numbers we retrieved from Ryouga Kamishiro, Number 17: Leviathan Shark and Number 47: Nightmare Shark." The two cards lit up a deep purple-blue. "These cards signify that I must gain more power, more knowledge, or else something terrible will happen."

"Something terrible? Like what, some kind of monster is going to attack Heartland City or something?"

"That is a matter that ties into the new Numbers we've obtained, and so will be discussed at that point." Yuma pouted, but Astral continued on, taking Number 17 and Number 47 back into himself. "To complete the review, observe this Number."

"Number 83: Galaxy Queen." Yuma looked intently at the card; it was after all the card that connected them, the card that revealed that they were both parted from their mothers' and thus had common ground to relate to one another.

"The memory is incomplete on its own, but I saw that I was created through love to do good in this world, and so I must honor this memory and see my mission through no matter what."

"Created through love..." Yuma said to himself, then snickered. "Man, you almost sound like you're Cupid or something."

Astral looked at Yuma without comprehension, and eventually the boy stopped laughing. "This number is precious to me beyond the others Yuma, keep that in mind in our duels." Astral withdrew Number 83, felt warmth. "Now then, with the foundation set, we are capable of grasping the memories granted by these Numbers." The last two cards stood side by side, spirals of fog emanating off of them. "Number 85: Crazy Box; there was something dangerous contained within it, and when I look at it I see a pair of crimson eyes glaring back at me, demanding my destruction." A bead of sweat formed on Yuma's brow. "Number 66: Master Key Beetle. A secret was learned and used to unlock the crimson eyes, the key was turned by human hands."

"So, someone's going to try and let out or remake or whatever, that monster you were talking about, and your, well, your mom made you in case tried again so you could stop it?"

"That is possible, but I think it unlikely that the danger will take the same form as before, whatever that might have been; the world has changed a great deal, so it is likely that the danger that we must face will be similarly different."

"Yeesh, if I ever find whoever it was who made that contract with me, I'm going to give them a piece of my mind." Yuma muttered to himself. "Really, this wasn't what they said at all, I thought I was going to have to be in some sort of tournament or something, nothing like this ever happens in those..."


	4. Chapter 4

Friend

"I have to admit Yuma, I'm simply stumped." Mr. Ukyo said as he stood over Yuma. "Usually you do quite well in my class, yet this is the second time now that you've failed on one of my tests." Yuma shrank down as Mr. Ukyo held up his dismal test; it really was weird how badly he'd done on it, even the other kids just stared at all the red marks as opposed to pointing and laughing or anything like that.

"I did do well on my test, but that ain't my test." Yuma said, making Kotori groan. "I know I got number 7 right, and there's no way I put that down for number 13!"

"Yuma, please don't argue with Mr. Ukyo." Kotori said. "Even I get off days sometimes, it's nothing against you or anything like that that you messed up, okay?" There were a couple of snickers, which Kotori ignored.

"I'm not gonna say I messed up 'cause I know I didn't! Maybe there was a screw up in the computers or something." Someone was clicking their tongue, drawing their attention to him.

"A likely excuse from you Yuma, but in summation completely absurd." Takashi Todoroki said, wagging his finger. "Still, as our esteemed Kotori has pointed out, there is not one among us who's had a bad day or two, or even more in some cases." Takashi cleared his throat and resumed before either of them could reply. "In summation, Mr. Ukyo, I am more than willing to work as Yuma's tutor until he's back up to speed."

"No way." Yuma crossed his arms. "I ain't taking lessons from a nerd like you; I don't need to know to suck up to the teacher."

"Yuma!" Kotori thwacked Yuma on the back of his head. "I'm sorry Todoroki, you know he doesn't mean it." Kotori turned to address Mr. Ukyo while Yuma continued to rub where she'd hit him. "Please sir, I'll tutor Yuma."

"Yes, I think that would work much better, Yuma does seem to get along with you much better than our Todoroki."

"I disagree sir." Takashi said, eliciting confused looks from everyone, even Kotori. "Not in that Yuma doesn't get along with Kotori, but in that this would be a good thing for the purpose of tutoring him; far be it from me to say this, but in summation Yuma and Kotori would get along much too well for any effective tutoring to get done."

"H-hey!" Yuma shouted, his face red; Kotori looked away so that he wouldn't see the same shade on her face. "What are you getting at? 'Cause it ain't true!"

"Oh come on guys." Tetsuo said, leaning back in his chair with a cheeky grin on his face. "You got to admit it, any tutoring between you two isn't gonna be on anything in class." Wonderful, freaking wonderful, everyone was laughing now, and even Mr. Ukyo was smirking.

"Well, perhaps.' Mr. Ukyo wiped the smirk from his mouth. "Nevertheless, I do trust my students, even when some of them are being stubborn, and I know for a fact that Kotori won't do anything inappropriate or off-topic." Then the bell rang. "And that's it for today everyone, so Yuma and Kotori, make sure you sign-in at the library for your study time, two hours, because I will be checking. Everyone else, feel free to go where ever you like!"

Kotori remained in her chair until everyone was gone, everyone but Yuma and Tetsuo. "Sorry to rib you guys like that, I just couldn't help it." Tetsuo said, not looking the least bit sorry at all.

"So long as you understand that." Kotori got up, her face back to its regular complexion while Yuma still had a trace of red on his face. "Now then, come on Yuma, let's get to the library." She walked to the door, waited for him.

"Fine, fine, but I'm telling you I don't need any stupid tutoring." He got up too, and Tetsuo stayed in his seat looking up at her, and he flashed a quick 'smoochie' expression at her, one that Yuma missed when he looked back after seeing the look on her face. "Let's get this over with, okay?"

"Right." Kotori walked alongside Yuma to the library, and on the way there plenty of their classmates and peers whispered and pointed; great, just great, Kotori thought to herself, rumors had already spread out way beyond control, if any of this got back home to her mother she was going to be in for the lecture of a lifetime. But that was for later, right now she had to work out how she was going to get Yuma back in shape; it really wasn't surprising that his test scores had dropped, he was stuck having to deal with the Numbers and the people who were using them, and there was the whole thing where it looked like he was talking to someone; he'd mentioned a dueling spirit right after his duel with Shark, and it made Kotori wonder...

"Come on, come on you dumb thing, do what I say." Kotori was knocked out of her thoughts by Yuma trying to sign-in, and clearly having trouble with it.

"Here, let me." Kotori brought up the screen on her D-Pad and was done just like that, signed-in and able to access whatever files and books and whatever else they might need. "You sure you don't think it'd be a good idea to sign up for computer club?"

"Positive." The boy groused, and Kotori couldn't stifle her giggle. "Okay, okay, if we're going to do this, let's sit over there, okay?" Yuma pointed to a table in the far corner, where no one would see them if they were walking by. "Eh, on second thought, how about here?" Kotori covered her smile as he took the table that was front and center, now wanting to be seen, wanting to make sure that stupid rumors wouldn't get worse than they already were.

"Looks good to me." Kotori sat down next to him. "Just give me a minute Yuma and I'll set up our lesson plan."

"You're enjoying this, aren't you?" Kotori paused and looked at Yuma; he was smiling, and he had a chipper tone in his voice. "Okay, just let me know when you're ready and we'll do this thing." Yuma slumped over onto the table and closed his eyes. "Huh?" He muttered. "No, you don't have to..."

Kotori sighed; yep, he was definitely real tired. So, she took her time in putting together everything they were going to cover so that Yuma would be able to pass his next test. Heck, she even went the extra step and put in a special surprise for when he got the last question right. "All right Yuma, time to get started." She gave him a nudge and that did the trick. "We've got a lot of questions for you to answer and not a lot of time to do it in."

"I thought we had two hours?"

"Right, not a lot of time."

Yuma groaned. "I've never spent more than half an hour studying, tops!"

"Well," Kotori smirked, "there's your first problem Yuma." She cleared her throat. "Now then Yuma, we will begin with these problems here and we'll work from there."

"Right, right, get this over with." Yuma said. He took out his D-Pad and started on the first problem. "Ah, come on Kotori, you didn't need to start this easy."

"Solve it, and then say that."

"I will, believe me I will."

Just a moment later, it gave off an angry beep and a red light. Yuma growled. "What? No, that's not right!" He thwacked the side of his D-Pad. "You spit out the right answer right now!"

"Don't do that!" This was delicate equipment.

"It's not my fault, if the D-Pad would stop being stupid and work right I wouldn't have to whack it any."

"It's not going to work better when you hit it, that's just going to make it worse."

"So why'd you hit me earlier? You think I'm going to work better if you hit me?"

"Ugh, look, let's just move on, okay?"

"Fine by me." Yuma skipped to the next question, and it didn't take long to get the red light and the harsh beep again. "Argh, that's not what I put down!"

Kotori shook her head. "Maybe if you were to put more than five seconds of thought into the problem..."

"I don't need to take time I don't need, I got the problem right, the stupid machine's messing it up for me, it hates me!"

"Your D-Pad doesn't hate, it doesn't even have that capability, it's programming doesn't have room for that sort of thing."

"Yeah, you'd know, wouldn't you?"

"And what do you mean by that?" Kotori felt a vein tense up in her forehead.

"I don't know, but I bet Todoroki would."

"Ugh, what are you even...whatever, next question."

"Grr." Yuma scrunched his face up as he worked on the next problem, and as Kotori expected he got a nice big error screen. "Forget it, the whole world's got it in for me right now."

"Oh come on, you're giving up? You?"

"Hey, I'm only human okay? I've got my limits the same as anyone."

"And so do I." Kotori got up from her chair.

"Wh-what are you doing? G-going to the bathroom or something?'

"I'm leaving Yuma, you can tutor yourself."

"Huh? But, I...aren't you..."

"If all your going to do is make excuses and give up, I really don't see what I'm supposed to be able to do." Kotori inhaled sharply through her nose.

"Yeah? Well, too bad, you have to stay, Mr. Ukyo said so, remember?"

"Correction, we have to stay." She took out her D-Pad again and worked on it. "And as far as the system will be concerned, I'm going to be here as long as you are, so the only way I'm getting in trouble is if you get in trouble too."

"And what makes you think I won't do that, huh?" Yuma stuck his tongue out at her.

"I'd say it's because you're not the sort to give up, but I guess I don't know anymore."

"H-hey, come back!" She walked away, ignoring Yuma's shrinking voice as it grew more distant. She'd get his apology later, when her head wasn't so stupidly hot and her fists weren't drawn so tight into little balls against her stomach.

* * *

"Oh man, I just don't get her sometimes." Yuma groaned once Kotori was completely and totally gone from the school library; where all that had come from, Yuma didn't have a freaking clue.

"Indeed." Astral said while still looking in the direction that Kotori had left in. "I would have expected her to have left at a much earlier point in time than she had."

"Huh?" Yuma double checked, made sure there was no one else around. "You don't get the part where we're friends, do you?"

"There is much about the relationship between you and Kotori that I do not comprehend." Yuma felt his throat constrict when Astral said that. "I do comprehend why it is that you are friends with her, but I can't grasp the converse."

"H-hey!" Yuma slammed his hands down on the table. "Are you saying what I think you're saying?" 'Cause if he was...

"So you recognize the problem as well?" Yuma felt the sweat beading up on his forehead, he didn't need this right after fighting with Kotori, getting all stupid and mad at her.

"L-look, I don't care what people were saying back in class," or even back at home, "it's not like that between me and Kotori!"

"Now you are confusing me; when did they comment on how Kotori seems to gain nothing from you?"

"Wait, what? What do you mean by that?" Yuma felt himself cooled off.

"I mean that she puts in a considerable sum of her time and effort in supporting you, helping you, compensating for your weaknesses, yet in our brief time together I have not yet seen you do the same for her, nor can I conceive of how you might do such a thing; I am still new to understanding humans, but it seems to me that your relationship with her is all take and no give. So, as I said at the start, I'd expected her to have left at a much earlier point in time than she had."

"You think I don't do anything for Kotori?' Yuma glared into Astral's eyes, the spirit unmoved. "Let me tell you something..."

"Yes? What is your counter-example?"

"..." Yuma dropped back down into his chair, crossed his arms, and looked down; how the heck was he supposed to explain the obvious when he couldn't think straight? "Look, it's not about words, I'll show you later, you got that?"

"We will see, Yuma." Astral fell silent, and Yuma decided that that was a good thing, not much point in talking to the spirit when it just plain didn't get this stuff anyway. He kicked his legs under the table for a little while, then picked up his D-Pad again; nah, he wasn't going to bother with those stupid quiz questions Kotori put together for him, he was going to find some game to play and clear his head out for when Kotori got back and apologized for ditching him like that.

"Hmm?" Yuma saw a game he didn't recognize. "34 Paths to Victory?" He tilted his head at it. "The heck kind of a game is this?"

"Something created by someone possessed by a Number." Astral said. "I can sense the lingering presence of that aura upon the program."

"Wait, seriously?" Yuma looked down at the game on his screen, on the bouncing text that was practically popping off the screen. "What the, what's the point of making a game?"

"Play it to find out." Yuma stared at Astral. "Do not be concerned, the power of the Emperor's Key will prevent it from affecting, I simply need to see it try to learn its function and purpose."

"All right, if you say so." So Yuma clicked on the game and started it up; it was a dumb boring game though, he was just going through some dumb maze, following stupid rules that kept coming up about where he could go and how he could get there, and a lot of the time it wasn't even clear what he was looking for anyway, something about a crystal or a light or a star, the game couldn't make up it's mind.

"That is quite enough Yuma." Astral's voice pulled him out of it, and Yuma realized that he'd been playing it for almost half an hour! "Without the protection of the Emperor's Key, the program would have caused you to unwittingly move to a certain location." He paused to make sure Yuma was listening. "Furthermore, I can also see that the overall functioning of your D-Pad was being disabled by the game; hence, your unusally poor performance on your tests."

"What are you...but wait a second, I don't even remember downloading this game, when the heck did it even get on here anyway?"

"That I can't say; my understanding of how these devices work is quite limited, and from what I've seen the only time it was out of your possession was when Mr. Ukyo had taken a hold of it, and I did not detect the presence of the Number on him."

"That's not the important part." Yuma closed up his D-Pad and put it away. "We need to get moving, figure out where the Number is and stop it before anyone gets hurt." Yuma leaped up out of his chair and ran out of the school library.

"Yuma?!" Yuma almost broke into a grin, but his expression fell when he realized it was just Todoroki. "Aren't you still supposed to be studying with Kotori?" He had his arms crossed and a sour look on his face.

"No time for..." Yuma noticed the way Astral was looking at him and Todoroki. "Um, hey, I don't suppose that you could help me figure something out real quick?"

"You want my help?" Todoroki took a look around Yuma's shoulders. "Ah, in summation, there's trouble in paradise."

"Argh, that's not what this is about!" Yuma's face was burning red. "You see this game? It's supposed to lead the player somewhere and make them do something, or something like that, and I need to figure out how the heck it got onto my D-Pad, and you're good with this sort of thing right? I mean, you are in the computer club and everything, right?"

Todoroki cocked a smile. "Yes, in summation I have quite the talent when it comes to computer programs, on more than one occasion Mr. Ukyo has requested my assistance in putting something together for him for use in class, and I can say with pride..."

"Yeah yeah, will you do it or not?"

"If you'll hand over your D-Pad?" Todoroki held out his hand, so Yuma gave him his D-Pad and stood right behind Todoroki as he opened it up. "You do know it's rude to look over someone's shoulder, especially when you're asking them for a favor?"

"Sorry, I just really want to find out right away." That, and he hoped that like when he and Tetsuo had dueled Chinira and Izumi, that he could use the Emperor's Key to keep Todoroki safe; yeah, he was stuck up and full of himself, but Yuma was not about to let him to get hurt by this stupid Number and whatever stupid plan it had.

"I suppose I can tolerate this, Kotori would never let me hear the end of it if I didn't put up with you." Yuma did not think about that, he did not think about all the times he'd heard someone question why Kotori was friends with him, he didn't think about how sometimes they didn't even care that he was right there. "Honestly, when was the last time you had this thing scanned anyway? In summation, your attempt to use your D-Pad as an excuse for your poor academic performance has more than a seed of merit to it.

"And what about the game? How did that get on there?"

"..." Todoroki fell silent, and Yuma waited for a while, and then...

"Todoroki?" Was the Key not working? Had the Number's program already gotten to Todoroki?

"This can't be right." Todoroki said after a couple minute's silence.

"What can't be right?"

"..." Todoroki took a step away, then turned around to face Yuma; his expression was taut and nervous. "I...that is, in summation, I, I contributed to the coding for this particular program."

"You?!"

"Please, understand, I just did some basic programming, the virus I found that's been corrupting your work, that wasn't me!"

"Whatever, you worked on it so you know who did the rest, right?"

"That, that would be an accurate statement..." Todoroki looked down and away. "I just...it makes no sense for him to do that, he's not that sort of person."

"Who? Who was it?"

"...Mr. Ukyo."

"Impossible." Astral said, which Todoroki of course didn't hear. "I would have sensed the presence of the Number on him during class."

"We'll figure it out later." Yuma said, not caring that Todoroki was looking right at him, hearing him talking to thin air. "Right now we need to find Mr. Ukyo and figure out what's going on here."

"Yes, you're right Yuma; in summation, we will need to follow where the program wants us to go to find out what Mr. Ukyo was trying to accomplish, and hopefully we'll find him there as well." Todoroki ran for the entrance to the school, and Yuma followed.

"So, what the heck were you doing outside the library anyway?" Yuma said. "Did you forget something back there or something?"

"If you must know, Yuma, the truth of the matter is that I was going to offer my assistance to Kotori in tutoring you."

"So what ya mean is you were going to show off how much smarter you are than me, right?"

"I will not deny it Yuma, that was a small, or not so small, part of my motivation. However! In summation, the bulk of my motivation was that I wanted to understand why Kotori is so willing to help you all the time."

"Too bad for you she's ten kinds of mad at me right now, so you're not finding out anytime soon." Yuma had no idea why he'd said that, reminding himself about his fight with Kotori just made his insides churn and his stomach lurch.

"I see." They crossed the front gate, passed by an Obot. "I suppose even she has to have her limits, but that really isn't here or there at the moment, is it Yuma? In summation, we should focus our efforts entirely at the task at hand until we have completed it."

"...If that's in summation, I really don't want to know what the whole thing is." Yuma kept quiet as he followed along behind Todoroki, keeping close so that the Key would keep him safe while he followed the bizarre directions of Mr. Ukyo's game, doubling back and clambering over this and that to get where they were going.

"Yuma." Astral said when it became apparent that Todoroki was completely absorbed in following the game's instructions, "explain to me about this friend of Kotori's."

"Um, he's Takashi Todoroki, he's a computer geek like Kotori, they met on the start of the school year when they both joined the computer club at the same time. I, I guess you could say they're rivals or something, but Kotori doesn't seem to care much about that sort of thing." They walked past another pair of Obots.

"Interesting; I will have to keep that in mind for later, but now it seems we are on the right track to our target."

"Eh?" Yuma bumped into Todoroki's back. He looked up and saw kids here and there, focused on their D-Pads and each one following slightly different instructions that ultimately had them all headed in the same direction. The Obots moved among them weren't bothered at all by the kids getting in their ways.

"This is good." Todoroki said. "Your D-Pad's getting really slow and corrupted, it was getting difficult to find out what the next step was." Todoroki handed it back to Yuma, and yeesh, it was like the monitor was throwing up on him. "I should think that if we watch them carefully, we'll be able to figure out their ultimate destination and reach it before they do, and then we can contact the police."

"R-right." Hoo boy, Yuma did not look forward to having to explain the whole thing with the Numbers to him, and there was no way he was going to be able to ditch him before confronting Mr. Ukyo. He was trying to keep the whole Numbers thing secret, but the way things were going everyone in Heartland was going to find out before he'd even gotten half of them! And then they would find out about Astral and they'd bug him to ask him all sorts of stupid questions and he'd never get a moment's peace...why was all this dumb junk happening anyway? "This is so unfair!"

"Yuma, quiet!" Todoroki stuck his finger in front of his mouth to silence him. "Look." He took that finger and pointed down the street. "You see that building, the domed one at the top by itself at the intersection with the empty parking lot, the one that in summation is the single tallest building by far in this part of Heartland City?"

"Of course." Yuma looked at it, looked all the way up to see the top of it; it wasn't as tall as Heartland Tower of course, but it was still really tall.

"Is there a reason why that building is so much taller than the others?" Astral said, craning his head back in the same manner that Yuma was.

"I don't know, what am I an architect?"

Todoroki stared at Yuma. "Are you certain you are all right Yuma?" Todoroki shook his head before Yuma could respond. "It doesn't matter, in summation the importance is that the truth no doubt resides at the very top of the building." So they ran across the intersection at the cross-walk and opened the doors; they stood in an empty lobby lined with monitors, no one at the reception desk.

"You two arrived early." The voice from the speakers all around had a disappointed tone to it. "In fact, one of you shouldn't have arrived at all; good thing I was prepared for that." A nearby elevator opened up. "Well, what are you waiting for? Handling this in person will be much quicker."

"Mr. Ukyo?!" Todoroki said. "Is that really you?"

"Oi, why'd you mess with my D-Pad and let everyone think it was my fault?!" Yeah, he knew it had to be the Number, but he was venting damn it!

"Again, if you would just follow directions, you would understand."

"All right, you're asking for it!" Yuma ran to the elevator, and Todoroki got in behind him just as the doors closed behind them. The elevator rose up really fast, the push squeezing them into the floor before it jerked to a stop, almost tossing them into the ceiling. "Okay, maybe that was a bit much."

"You see Yuma?" Mr. Ukyo's voice sounded from the end of a long office lined with potted plants. "You can learn if you try." Yuma ran out into it and saw Mr. Ukyo leaning back against a desk, a smug grin on his face. "How do you like this office? I'd always wanted it for myself back when I worked here, but management had other ideas."

"You used to work here?" Todoroki said, staring in wide-eyed awe.

"Oh yes, as matter of fact I was the one who'd set up the internal network for this business; as such, it was not at all difficult to hack the network and clear everyone out for the day for my little test." He chuckled, not even the least little bit like himself.

"Mr. Ukyo, can you just tell me one thing?" Yuma said. Mr. Ukyo motioned for him to continue. "What are you trying to do anyway? And why did you get Todoroki caught up in it?"

Mr. Ukyo chuckled. "The purpose of this little test of mine is to establish the limits of the capabilities of this card." He held his hand out, and the Number shimmered into being, the back to Yuma so he couldn't see what it was.

"I think I understand now." Astral said. "The Number was able to exert its influence over a distance, preventing me from discerning its presence; how disconcertingly clever."

"You see Yuma," Mr. Ukyo, no awareness of Astral's commentary, "the more pawns I have who are willing to do whatever I wish, the better suited I am to discovering and gathering the rest of the Numbers for myself."

"Y-you?" Yuma gaped. "You want the Numbers too?!"

"Yes, one Number gives me this much power and control, imagine what two, or even three might do for me? For example, might I have been able to keep you in the library so that you would not be able to interfere until after the conclusion of my little test?"

"While I would be curious about that as well, my priority must be to acquire them myself." Astral turned to face Yuma. "Challenge him Yuma, and claim the Number from him."

"Yuma, what is even going on here? In summation, please explain!" Todoroki cried out. "What are you and Mr. Ukyo even talking about anymore?"

"Argh, look, it'll be way easier for me to show you than tell you, so pay attention to our duel!" Yuma attached the D-Pad to the brace on his arm...and it did not arm the way it was supposed to.

"Didn't I say I was prepared for this?" Mr. Ukyo's grin consumed more of his face. "My virus has rendered your D-Pad so much plastic and wiring, completely useless unless someone were to take the time to take it apart and put it back together, far more trouble than its worth. In other words, you can't challenge me, so I can safely ignore you."

"Very well then, I'll duel you instead!" Todoroki said as he took out his D-Pad. "In summation, I would certainly have a far better chance than Yuma, even if I don't understand the situation at all!" Mr. Ukyo continued to smile

"Wait!" They all looked over at one of the plants in the corner, and Yuma felt his chest tighten as he saw Kotori emerge. "Bad idea Todoroki, you really don't know what you're getting into."

"Kotori?" Mr. Ukyo stared at her. "When did you...how did you...?"

"After I stormed out from the library, I saw kids walking around with their noses in their D-Pads, doing really weird things, and when I tried to ask them about it they ignored me; I figured a Number was involved, and when I got to here I made sure that the security system wouldn't register; when I first got in here there was no one in here, so I tried to look around, but then I heard the elevator coming so I hid myself, and when I saw it was you, Mr. Ukyo, that's when I tried to call Yuma, but something was screwing up the signal so I couldn't get to him."

"Ah, so I see that the Computer Club's Ace has her limits; still, it is of no concern, everything will go as planned and I'm certainly not going to let you leave to contact any outsiders." Mr. Ukyo snapped his fingers, and the door behind them shut and locked.

"I'm sorry about before Yuma." Kotori said, no concern over how they were trapped. "It was just so unexpected, I didn't even think to take you seriously when I should have just listened." She took Yuma's D-Pad, examined it.

"Eh?" Oh great, now she was apologizing first? Here he was, biggest heel on the whole dang planet and she was apologizing first. "I'm sorry too, you were trying to help, like you always are, and I just..." Argh, words, why couldn't he get them to come out right?!

"Truly adorable, but it doesn't matter; there's nothing the lot of you can do except wait for the arrival of..."

"And done." Kotori presented Yuma with his D-Pad, good as new and no sign of any of the slowness or corruption or anything else.

"You...you removed the virus and restored the D-Pad that quickly?" Yuma said while Todoroki and Mr. Ukyo stared at her with dropped jaws.

"Yeah, well, the sooner you take care of this mess, the sooner we can get back to your tutoring."

"You bet!" Yuma spun around and armed his D-Pad, whirring to life. "All right Mr. Ukyo, this time for real you have to duel me!"

"Hmph, how tedious." He brought out his, and his whole body glowed a purple black blur. "But then again, if I win you three will cease to be obstacles to the conclusion of my test, so this isn't a setback at all for me."

"That's only if you win, and I'm not going to let you!" Yuma drew his cards and took the first turn. "Right, I'm gonna set one monster and end my turn!"

"Turn 2, Yuma Tsukumo: 4000 life points, Mr. Ukyo: 4000 life points."

"All that trouble that Kotori and Todoroki went through to get you here, and that's the best you can do?" Mr. Ukyo shook his head as he drew his card. "I suppose it is entirely conceivable that you won't let them down, but such a microscopic prospect is hardly worth taking seriously." He added the card he'd drawn to his hand. "As microscopic as the chance that they would ever understand their mistakes."

"W-what do you mean by that Mr. Ukyo?" Izumi and Chinira, Fuya Okudaira, and even Shark, they'd all had something in their past that the Numbers were messing with, was Mr. Ukyo the same?

"What I mean is beyond the comprehension of an ignorant child like you, someone who is years away from appreciating their good fortune in life and how preciously little they deserve any of it; I summon Serene Psychic Witch to the field and attack your face-down monster." A woman with pale red hair and weird sci-fi weapons took form, rising up slowly in front of Mr. Ukyo. She brought those weapons of hers down, wires trailing from them to battery packs in back, and fired at Yuma's monster, Overlay Eater, destroying it effortlessly. "Now then, I will set one card, leaving me with a two card advantage on the field; your turn, Yuma."

"Turn 3, Yuma Tsukumo: 4000 life points, Mr. Ukyo: 4000 life points."

"Now I know you didn't mean that Mr. Ukyo." Yuma drew his card. "So much of why I did well in your class, you never talked down to me! You never talked down to anyone or treated them differently, you always knew we were more than just our grades!"

"Yes, I did do a great disservice to you all, hadn't I?" Mr. Ukyo turned his head to look out the window looking over the city, Heartland Tower in the distance. "Way up here, you understand that individual people are so small and see so little, only one who is elevated by power can truly understand this truth."

"Then I'll never get that, and when I beat you and you're back to normal, you won't either!" Yuma grabbed two cards from his hand. "I summon Gagaga Girl and equip Wonder Wand, raising her attack power to 1500 so I can attack and beat your monster!" Skulls rattled together from a key-chain connected to a cellphone, and holding that cellphone was a girl in a tight black outfit with a wizard hat just like Gagaga Magicican's. Yuma's monster extended its empty hand to take hold of a wand with a large green jewel at the end to increase her power. With that she fired a bolt of energy into Serene Psychic Witch, destroying it for 100 points of damage.

"Completely unconcerned with my face-down card and eager to get in even the most meager of damage; it's no wonder that you were always my worst student Yuma." As the smoke cleared, a hole in space stood where Serene Psychic Witch had been. "When destroyed and sent to the grave, Serene Psychic Witch's effect activates, taking a Psychic monster with 2000 attack or less in my deck and banishing it. Then, if Serene Psychic Witch is still in my grave during my next standby phase, I get to special summon the banished monster." Yuma only caught a glimpse of the monster through the hole in space, a green-haired boy, before the hole vanished from reality. "So, tell me this Yuma; do you have any means by which you might prevent this effect from reaching completion, or is this beyond your capabilities?"

Yuma growled. "Do not concern yourself overmuch Yuma; reducing the number of monsters he has on the field at any moment is the highest priority." Astral said.

"Don't let it bug you Yuma!" Kotori said. "Psychic decks like that are really rare, you can't expect to have to deal with junk like that!"

"Yes, in summation, ever since Divine used his Psychic deck over 60 years ago in Neo-Domino City, hardly anyone will play one, regardless of how well suited it might be for them!"

"You paid attention in history Todoroki." Mr. Ukyo said. "Despite everything though, I won't be held back by base superstitions, I will not share that man's fate."

"That's right, 'cause I'm going to save you! I set one card and end my turn!"

"Turn 4: Yuma Tsukumo: 4000 life points, Mr. Ukyo: 3900 life points."

Mr. Ukyo drew his card, and Mental Seeker appeared before Mr. Ukyo, taking Serene Psychic Witch's place. "Now then, I activate Mental Seeker's effect, and take a look at the top three cards of your deck, banishing one before shuffling the rest back into your deck." Mental Seeker's visor glowed, and so did the top three cards of Yuma's deck; they flew out in front of Mental Seeker, who relayed their contents to Mr. Ukyo. "Hmm, this Double or Nothing seems like it could be dangerous under the right circumstances; yes, I think I will banish that." Yuma's card vansihed, and the other two flew back into his deck. "With that taken care of, I can begin work on my real objective; first, I summon Hushed Psychic Cleric." A heavily robed old man appeared, his beard the only distinguishable part of his face. "When summoned, Hushed Psychic Cleric switches to defense, and I can send one card from my hand to the grave to banish a Psychic monster in my grave, so I will of course be banishing my Serene Psychic Witch." A wailing moan sounded off in the distance, and was cut off. "Then, I activate my spell card, Monster Gate."

A magic circle with all kinds of symbols appeared in the air. "With this, I sacrifice my Hushed Psychic Cleric to reveal cards from my deck until I get a monster I can normal summon, and special summon that monster to the field...but before any of that can happen, I'll activate my trap card, Spell Reclamation; by discarding a card from my hand, Monster Gate will be returned from the grave to my hand once it's activation has been resolved." Another magic circle appeared around the first one, spinning opposite to the Monster Gate. "Oh yes, and before we forget, upon being sent to the grave, Hushed Psychic Cleric's effect activates, special summoning the Serene Psychic Cleric that it had banished, which means that I will have three monsters on the field in just a moment!" There was a flash of light as a four spells or traps, it was hard to see just what they were they were going by so fast, flew out from Mr. Ukyo's deck to reveal his next monster. "With this, Ghost Fairy Elfobia and Serene Psychic Witch are special summoned while Monster Gate is returned to my hand." Joining the woman from before was a girl with really long white hair and a super fancy staff with a crow or raven or some other black bird resting on it.

"Brace yourself Yuma; he now has 3 level 3 monsters on the field, and depending on his Number's effect our defenses may not be enough."

"Witness it my students; the power far greater than the sum of its parts; I overlay my Mental Seeker, Serene Psychic Witch, and Ghost Fairy Elfobia." The galaxy spiral appeared, drawing all three monsters into it as balls of light. When it exploded, Yuma felt that familiar wave of pressure that didn't happen with regular, ordinary Exceed monsters. "The one that manages and oversees everything, and executes its program without fail!" The Number branded itself onto Mr. Ukyo's hand. "Number 34! Electronic Computer Beast Tera Byte!" It started up like a bunch of computer chips, but then they folded out into a big scorpion...bee...thing...with zero attack power and 2900 defense points?

"Mr. Ukyo, why do you keep summoning weak, low attack monsters?"

"Indeed, even with Serene Psychic Witch's effect, he could have easily gotten a far stronger monster to try and defeat Gagaga Girl; could it be out of fear of your face-down card?"

"Weak..." Mr. Ukyo looked down, his face cast in shadow. "Why do you say that Yuma? Because my own force is so meager? Because I can't manage on my own and am dependent on the loyalty of my underlings to work with me and not against me? I can assure you, when this day is through, that will never be an issue again!" Tera Byte reared back as Mr. Ukyo whipped his own head back. "I activate Tera Byte's effect and detach one Exceed unit to take control of your Gagaga Girl!"

"What?!" Yuma watched as the Exceed unit was absorbed by Tera Byte's tail, and it shot out a coiling beam of electricity that lassoed around Gagaga Girl and dragged her over to his side of the field.

"Yes, Tera Byte's effect can only target level 4 or lower attack position monsters; in other words, over eager children who have yet to learn their place in the world and think that they can take on anything through raw power and gumption, they are the ones most vulnerable to control and coercion! That is the value and power in being a teacher Yuma, that is why I came to Heartland Middle School, because young minds like yours are best suited to being shaped according to my will!" Mr. Ukyo thrust his hand out. "Now then, I'll attack you directly with your own monster!"

Yuma could only brace, his face-down Gagaga Shield helpless to defend him from Gagaga Girl herself, and any hope that his own monster might have held back was obliterated along with 1500 of his life points as he slammed into the ground like he'd been run over by a freaking truck! "Yuma!" He heard Astral, Kotori, and Todoroki all call out at the same time; if it meant hearing them all say his name like that...he still wouldn't want to got through that again, but at least it took off the edge a little...okay, not really.

"I'm okay." Yuma got back to his feet, the tingling not really that bad, and he looked Gagaga Girl in they eye, letting his monster know that he didn't blame it at all; just 'cause it wasn't a Number didn't mean that it didn't matter.

"Now then Yuma, at the end phase Tera Byte's effect will return control of Gagaga Girl to you..." Yuma smiled, "However, before that I will activate Monster Gate once more, sacrificing Gagaga Girl to retrieve another monster from my deck!"

"No!" Gagaga Girl vanished along with Bound Wand, so now he couldn't send them to the grave to draw two more cards on his next turn, and now he couldn't do anything but watch as Mr. Ukyo turned over more cards until he got another monster, another Serene Psychic Witch which he'd special summoned in defense position.

"Yes Yuma, I got all the use I could out of it, so what sense was there in letting you, who wouldn't know what to do with it, have it back? None, none at all!" Damn it, this Number was a real piece of work! "You all exist to be used and thrown away, that is reality, and that is why I will be on top and stay on top. So, go ahead and take your turn, boy."

"Turn 5: Yuma Tsukumo: 2500 life points, Mr. Ukyo: 3900 life points."

"We are in a difficult situation Yuma." Astral said, his regular calm replacing his short-lived concern. "You must either summon a high level monster or perform an Exceed Summon, as anything else will allow Mr. Ukyo to attack us directly again, and it is imperative that we avoid such a turn of events."

"I think I figured that one out on my own." Yuma said quietly to Astral. "And you," he pointed at Mr. Ukyo, "we're not here to give you a leg-up, we're here to make it on our own!" Yuma drew his card. "And first thing's first, I'm gonna play Gagagarevenge and special summon Gagaga Girl back from the grave." His monster returned, and gave a little smirk as it looked at the Number. "You might have counted me out, but you're going to see why that was a big mistake! I summon Zubaba Knight and I'll overlay it with Gagaga Girl!" A caped warrior in gold and black armor, and jagged blades running along his forearms appeared, and then the galaxy spiral showed up on Yuma's side of the field. "Come on out, Number 17 Leviathan Dragon!" One of the Numbers that he'd gotten from Shark, now fighting by his side again. "Plus, now Gagagarevenge's other effect activates, giving my Exceed monsters another 300 attack points, and I'll detach Gagaga Girl to give my monster another 500 attack points." Leviathan Dragon roard as it consumed an Exceed unit, its attack power to 2800.

"A great deal of noise, Yuma, but your monster is still weaker than Tera Byte, and if you attack Serene Psychic Witch I will simply activate its effect again to special summon a new monster better suited for dealing with the current situation; the limits of your youth and inexperience are established, and no amount of screaming and yelling over the unfairness of it all, no sum of complaining about your hard work being taken away will ever get any of it back again."

"...I have to be honest Mr. Ukyo, I don't know what happened here, and if it happened to me, I'd probably get real mad about it too." Mr. Ukyo narrowed his eyes. "But now you're just dropping to their level, and you know how much it hurt to be on the wrong end of that, and so no matter what, if you keep on doing this it's only going to make you feel even worse!"

"So says a weakling who's never known power, an idealist fool with an over-optimistic view of the people around him." Mr. Ukyo glared into Yuma's eyes.

"Maybe, but for right now I'm going to keep on trying anyway, and so I activate Overlay Eater's effect from the grave, banishing it from the grave to take one of your Exceed materials and attaching it to my Leviathan Dragon." Overlay Eater, a red lizard with green frills, appeared and used its tongue to snag one of Tera Byte's materials, the first Serene Psychic Witch, and paste it onto Leviathan Dragon. "Now I'll go ahead and end my turn here."

"Turn 6, Yuma Tsukumo: 2500 life points, Mr. Ukyo: 3900 life points."

Mr. Ukyo drew his next card. "Now, since I can't as yet break through your monster's attack power, I will be activating Trace Remnant in the grave; by skipping my battle phase, I can banish this spell card along with two Psychic monsters in my grave, Mental Seeker and Hushed Psychic Cleric, and draw one card." Mr. Ukyo drew another card and added it to his hand without ever looking at it. "Now I have the two cards I need to discard for Magical Stone Excavation, allowing me to take another spell card from my grave and adding it to my hand, which I will set and end my turn with."

"Turn 7, Yuma Tsukumo: 2500 life points, Mr. Ukyo: 3900 life points."

"Be careful Yuma!" Todoroki called out as Yuma drew his card. "Mr. Ukyo chose that spell card, if you act recklessly you'll play right into his hands!"

"Yeah, I get that, but if I just sit here and do nothing, I won't get anywhere at all; it'll hurt for a while, sure, but it's like ripping off a bandage, you know it's coming so it's best to just get it over with!"

"Yep, that's Yuma all right." He heard Kotori say, and he couldn't help taking a moment to remember all the time's that she'd yelled at him for ripping his bandages off.

"So, I'm going to go ahead and detach Zubaba Knight to raise Leviathan Dragon's attack power to 3300, enough to defeat Tera Byte!" Leviathan Dragon devoured the second Exceed material, leaving only one orb of light to orbit.

"Yes, that's exactly what you had to do, and thus I chose the proper counter; Quick-spell activate, 4th Dimensional Maneuver." The moment when Leviathan Dragon ate the Exceed Unit played out in reverse, almost but not quite like it was vomiting it up. "When an Exceed unit is detached, I special summon that monster to the controlling player's side of the field in defense position." Zubaba Knight appeared in a flash of light next to Leviathan Dragon, crouched and arms crossed. "However, the turn immediately enters the end phase, meaning that your turn is already over and your monster's effect was worthless!"

"Turn 8, Yuma Tsukumo: 2500 life points, Mr. Ukyo: 3900 life points."

"Do you understand Yuma? It was impossible for you to advance, I'd forbidden it from the very outset! I'd dug through the discarded remnants of my own deck to bring you exactly where I'd needed you."

"In other words, he drew on the past that he'd abandoned to cut off your future."

"Yeah!" The odd looks he got reminded Yuma that only he was able to hear Astral. "You're still looking back, you're still, um, you're still caught up on what happened, and that way, that way won't work against me."

"So he says, despite that there's nothing he can do." Mr. Ukyo drew his card. "I detach my remaining Exceed material to take control of your level 3 Zubaba knight, and overlay that with my Serene Psychic Witch." Yuma almost sighed in relief when it was just the red bands of energy, it wasn't going to be a second Number monster. "I now Exceed summon the Rank 3 Precision Magnetic Giga Byte." A trantula like creature made of wires and coiled columns of iron appeared with 1500 attack and 1000 defense. "Now Yuma, now is the time I get to punish you for your foolish youthful arrogance and deliver my second lesson on reality; I detach Serene Psychic Witch and switch Leviathan Dragon to defense position, where it will remain with you unable to change it back until after your next end phase." Giga Byte grabbed an Exceen material with a pair of mandibles and then leaped onto Leviathan Dragon to drive it into its body, forcing it down onto the ground with zero defense power to protect it.

"If the card in his hand grants Tera Byte any attack power, it will be all over for us."

"Now then, I equip Giga Byte with Coded Advance, allowing it to inflict battle damage even against a defense position monster; how like a child you are Yuma, believing that if you huddle down and cover your head you can't be hurt." Mr. Ukyo chuckled. "I'm so glad I've outgrown that, and who knows, maybe you will too after I'm done with you."

"Not from where I'm standing." Mr. Ukyo paused at Yuma's words. "You're still stuck there, you're still holding onto that hurt; everything you're accusing me of, everything you're throwing at me, it's everything that you're feeling and hurting from right now, all being brought out like this because of the Number, and I swear Mr. Ukyo, I'll do everything in my power to set things right again, so at least you can let go of whatever it was that happened to you."

"Gk, Giga Byte, attack Leviathan Dragon!" Yuma reeled as Giga Byte slammed into Leviathan Dragon again and again, whipping long limbs and cracking scales. "Furthermore, when the equipped monster inflicts battle damage I get to take a single card from my grave, and place it on top of my deck." When he did that, he paused. "Since you keep bringing up your own ignorance and keep proclaiming that it doesn't really matter, I will lecture you just once more, so listen closely." Yuma listened, they all listened. "As I'd mentioned before, I was the one who'd set up the network currently in use for this office building; before me, everything slow, sluggish and prone to crashes, meaning at any given time the meager work that people were able to do could be lost forever. Single-handedly...well, of course I was part of a team, but I was the one who'd put together the key changes necessary for the network to not only be functional, but to become faster and more efficient than all of our competition; naturally, we were all set for promotions and raises, we were all poised to reap what we'd sown...and they all betrayed me! Each one of them, they claimed credit for this or that, and got that extra little bit more for themselves that was supposed to go to me! I was left with nothing, the most important member and I was stuck where I'd started, unable to advance at all."

"But, surely you could have presented evidence proving your contributions, that you were the one who'd made them?" Kotori said.

"Yes, in summation, their had to be a process for redress that you could have taken at the time."

"Indeed, and had I taken those steps first, instead of trying to confront my supposed peers first and appealing to their better natures like the fool that I was; that time I wasted gave them the chance they needed to get themselves with the management, stacking the deck hopelessly against me, all while telling me it was just business and how they looked forward to working with me again." Mr. Ukyo's head dipped. "Now I'm on top, after having dropped down to the level of a middle school teacher, and this time I will not have my credit stolen from me! I end my turn Yuma, now let us see what you can do with a useless zero attack monster!"

"Turn 9: Yuma Tsukumo: 1000 life points, Mr. Ukyo: 3900 life points."

"Maybe you were cheated out of what you'd earned, but now you're cheating all of us out of what you were supposed to give us, and I'll make you see that!" Yuma drew his card. "I activate Exceed Treasure, and since there are three Exceed monsters on the field that means I get to draw three cards." Yuma looked over his new hand.

"Yes, with this we will be able to break through and defeat Mr. Ukyo."

"You're damn right we will! I summon Kurivolt, and detach an Exceed material from Giga Byte and Leviathan Dragon to special summon two more Kurivolts from my deck, and I'll overlay all three of them to Exceed Summon Apprentice Devil Unununderstudy!" A loud clatter sounded out as lots of musical instruments fell down onto the ground, and standing in the middle of all that was a little horned boy looking from one instrument to the next, unable to choose which one to pick up and play. "Now you watch closely, 'cause you're going to see what I can do when you push me hard enough; I attack and detach a Kurivolt from Unununderstudy, and exchange attack and defense with one monster you control until the end of the damage step!" Yuma's monster started playing on random instruments, keeping on the same song from one to the next, and as it did Giga Byte fell down on itself while Unununderstudy grew; now Gigabyte had only 500 attack points, while Unununderstudy now had 1500. "Take down Giga Byte Unununderstudy!" Grabbing hold of a recorder, Yuma's monster blared away until solid sound waves crushed Giga Byte for 1000 points of damage. "There, now you can't beat me next turn, my future's still in sight! I set two cards and end my turn!" Unununderstudy stopped playing and collapsed to the ground in exhaustion, it's attack and defense returning to their original values.

"Turn 10, Yuma Tsukumo: 1000 life points, Mr. Ukyo: 2900 life points."

"A minor turnaround without consequence, as I'd already anticipated this event!" Mr. Ukyo drew his card, the one he'd chosen. "I knew that you would likely produce a card capable of overcoming Giga Byte, but that would in turn leave you vulnerable to attack, and so I placed this card on my deck with Coded Advance, Weapon Change! Now I pay 700 life points to switch Tera Byte's attack with its defense, giving my Number 2900 attack points, enough to destroy you twice over, and with Leviathan Dragon stuck in defense position, you have no way of preventing my victory! My plan, my perfect and complete plan, will now achieve completion!" Tera Byte reared up, stomped its way towards Yuma's monster as it stood its ground and braced for the inevitable.

"Not today! I activate my trap card Guts Guard, changing the target of your attack to Leviathan Dragon!" Leviathan Dragon flew out in front of Unununderstudy.

"Why bother? Your monster will still be destroyed, and Weapon Change's effect lasts until the end of your turn and even with Unununderstudy's effect, it's not a Number and can't destroy mine, and 2400 points of damage simply won't be enough; in other words, it's all in vain Yuma." Mr. Ukyo laughed maniacally.

"And that's why I'm going to activate my other trap card, Gamushara, switching Leviathan Dragon to attack position!"

"What?!" Mr. Ukyo fell back as Leviathan Dragon snapped out and bit Tera Byte's head off for 100 points of damage; as it's original attack power was zero, Gamushara's other effect to inflict the opponent's monster's original attack as damage didn't mean anything. Even so...

"Turn 11, Yuma Tsukumo: 1000 life points, Mr. Ukyo: 2800 life points."

"Leviathan Dragon, attack directly!" Mr. Ukyo fell to the ground, narrowly avoiding getting blasted by Leviathan Dragon's breath weapon, but the 3300 points of damage still registered, and Yuma watched as Astral took the Number from him. "How interesting...hmm, yes, if we just..." And now he was stuck on another memory of his, he'd be a while like that.

"Mr. Ukyo!" Todoroki and Kotori ran up to him. "Are you okay? In summation, are you back to the Mr. Ukyo that we know?"

"Worse for wear, but I'll manage." He slowly got back up. "But first, I need to send out the kill code for the program." He tapped at his D-Pad a few times, waited a moment. "There, now everyone will be able to go back home and there won't be any trace of the program on their D-Pads; I was quite thorough about wanting to cover my tracks after all." He frowned as he looked down at Yuma. "I owe you a great apology Yuma, and I have no idea how I'm going to repay you for it."

"That's okay; I really can't explain it, but those Number cards just really mess with your head, it wouldn't be right to hold you, umm..." Yuma started snapping his fingers, trying to find the right word.

"Accountable?" Kotori said.

"Yeah, that's it!"

"Thank you Yuma, that's a very mature attitude to have, especially for a boy your age; who knows, maybe if I'd been that forgiving back then..."

"No way!" Todoroki said. "In summation, the people here were awful to you and they don't deserve you, and I can assure you that your students do!"

"Yeah!" Yuma added. "Though, maybe I could get a retake, 'cause you know, the last couple tests don't really count if you think about it?"

Mr. Ukyo chuckled. "I think I can manage that; now then...let's get out of here before we outstay our welcome."

So they got out of there right away, making sure to cover their tracks so no one coming in later would know that they hadn't been there the whole time. "Yuma, request that Kotori tutor you again." He looked at Astral while Kotori and Todoroki were talking with Mr. Ukyo, while Obots kept rolling on by. "I am trying to confirm something.

Yuma cleared his throat. "So, um, Kotori, you want to try and tutor for me again?"

"Eh? But Yuma, you only failed because of your corrupted D-Pad, remember? You shouldn't need any tutoring."

"Yeah, well, better safe than sorry, couldn't hurt and all that stuff, right?"

"Ah, youth." Mr. Ukyo said with a chuckle.

"Indeed, in summation, I see no reason why you shouldn't tutor Yuma, Kotori." Mr. Ukyo and Todoroki walked away before Yuma or Kotori could respond, leaving them by themselves.

"Oh!" Kotori said. "Um, on the way, you should, you should call Tetsuo, let him know what just happened."

"Right!" Yeah, it would have been real bad if after all that they'd forgotten about Tetsuo again and not told him anything. So as they walked along Yuma called up Tetsuo and told him the whole thing, gave him every move that was made in the duel, all the stuff that was said as best he could remember it, avoided the Obots as they kept picking up scraps, and by the time he was done they were already back at the school.

"Man, sounds rough Yuma. But hey, now you'll be able to get back to studying, and I'll let your sister know you've been spending all this time with Kotori, no weird duels at all."

"H-hey!" Yuma shouted, but Tetsuo had already hung up. He looked over at Kotori, and while she was looking at him, it didn't look like she'd heard what Tetsuo had said. "So, um, I guess now's as good a time as any to get started on your quiz?"

"I'd say so." Yuma and Kotori stepped back into the school library, and Yuma got started, and he got through them all pretty quickly, though the questions did get tricky near the end, and he did need Kotori's help on them.

"And there you go!" Kotori said as she watched Yuma finish the last question, and after the brief congratulatory beep that had followed, his screen practically exploded.

"What the!?" Was this another virus?!

"Knew you could do it Yuma!" A tiny cartoon Kotori said between a pair of fireworks. "And here's your prize!" The tiny cartoon Kotori pointed up in the real Kotori's direction.

"Huh?" Yuma looked over at Kotori...wait, was she...no way, he was imagining things, his mind was playing tricks on him, there was just no way she was going to...

"Gotcha!" The tiny cartoon Kotori and the real Kotori said at the same time, and then Kotori laughed and laughed. "Oh man, you should have seen the look on your face Yuma!" She just kept on laughing, making it a very good thing that no one else was around. "Sorry Yuma," Kotori wiped a tear from her eye, "but you don't get prizes for doing as well as expected."

"Ah, whatever." Yuma fell forward onto the table and covered his face in his arms. "The point is I'm going to pass my retake and that's what matters."

"Yeah, you're right." Kotori got up. "Anyway, I'm going to head home now, don't want to keep my Mom waiting forever after all; see you tomorrow?"

"Sure thing." Yuma said, face still hidden, and he didn't lift his face until after Kotori was well and truly gone. "I don't get her!"

"I must concede that I do not either." Astral said as he looked out where she'd left them. "There is yet much that I do not understand about her, but for the time being I am certain of one thing."

"Yeah?" Yeah, hadn't he said something about not getting why Kotori was friends with him, what he gave her the way she gave him?

"She is an individual of uncommon intelligence and capability, and therefore if she sees worth and capability in you, is happy to be friends with you as she clearly is, then I can safely trust her judgment on the matter."

"Thanks, I guess." That...didn't really answer the question, he still couldn't put it into words what he gave Kotori that made her want to be friends with him, but after everything he'd been through that day, Yuma was going to just have to leave it be and move on.


	5. Chapter 5

Victory

She knew that she was at the right address, but looking at the old house before her made that difficult to believe; it was a residence so out of place with its neighbors that it was as though someone had scooped it up out of the countryside and dropped it into Heartland City. It didn't really matter though, it wasn't the building that she came to see. The blue-haired girl knocked on the door and waited. The door opened, revealing a young red-haired woman in casual wear. "Oh, are you one of Yuma's classmates?"

"No, but I am here to see him." She'd not met Yuma before, but she did know of him.

"Hmm, tough luck, he's out right now with his friends, messing around when he knows there are chores to be done..." The red-haired woman sighed.

"I am in no hurry, I can wait for his return." It had taken her this long to get to this point, a little more time would not endanger anything.

"Oh, all right then, come on in; my name's Akari Tsukumo, I'm Yuma's older sister." Akari stepped back and away, leaving her plenty of room.

"I'm Rio." Rio stepped inside, and the inside of the house looked just as archaic as the outside, hardly any concessions to the modern world. "I've already eaten before coming, so you don't need to bring me anything."

"Nonsense." A new voice entered, Rio looked over and saw an elderly woman with faded pink hair hunched over as she scrubbed away at a stubborn stain. "We would be very poor hosts if we didn't get you some tea."

"That's quite all right..." Rio was stunned by the elderly woman's glare, like she'd just been grabbed and held in place.

"You should listen to Grandma Haru." Akari whispered into her ear.

"Yes, I would be most pleased to receive your generosity." Rio bowed down to Grandma Haru, and the elderly woman's smile released her.

"Very good; Akari, if you could take care of that for me?" She was already resuming her work on the aforementioned stubborn stain.

"Of course Grandma." She turned back to Rio. "Here, let me show you to the living room, you can sit and wait there, rest your feet a bit." Akari did so, and the living room did have an inviting quality to it, and the chairs did look comfortable. Rio confirmed that yes, these were good chairs. "There, I'll be right back."

"Please don't rush on my account." Rio sighed after Akari had left; she had a single purpose for coming here, and now she was getting wrapped up with these people; they seemed like nice people, smart and capable, it would not be the worst thing to get to know them better, but as it was she had to be focused, she had to keep all distractions at bay and keep her head cool.

"Here you go." Akari was back with the tea. Rio accepted and Akari took the seat opposite to her. Rio took a sip from the tea.

"This is good." It was sweeter than she was used to, not sugar but honey.

"Thanks; Grandma Haru's got her own special brew, and she made damn sure that I'd learned it by heart, but enough about me." Akari leaned forward in her seat. "So, just what do you want with my baby brother?"

"That is a private matter between me and him." Rio would do her best to keep as few people involved as possible; that was how she'd always handled things, and it was how she was going to handle this situation as well.

"Ah, come on, you've got to tell me something; I'm sure you're a good kid and all, but this is my baby bro we're talking about here; I can't keep him from getting bruised and banged up out there, but in here he doesn't get so much as a scratch on his nose, so let me ask you again; what do you want with Yuma?"

"What does who want with me?" Ah, there he was; Rio looked up and saw a boy with black hair and bright red bangs, close enough in coloration with Akari's, and with him were two others, a green haired girl and a large boy.

"Ah, great timing Yuma." Akari got up and addressed the smaller boy, confirming Rio's suspicion. "This here is Rio and seems like she's got something only you can help her with." A beeping sound came from a nearby room. "Agh, and now I've got to go take care of those headlines; be sure to share the scoop with me Yuma or else you're taking the garbage out for three weeks."

"Right, right." Yuma said as Akari left and entered her office, and from the glimpse Rio caught of it it was a welcome breath of modernity in the midst of all rustic designs around her. "So, you're name's Rio huh?" Yuma stood in front of her, his friends flanking him, all of them smiling. "This is Tetsuo," he gestured at the large boy, "and this here's Kotori." Now he gestured to the green-haired girl.

"I see." She looked Tetsuo over, who made a cocky grin at her, and then she examined Kotori. "Hmm..." There was something in her eyes, something different.

"Yes?" Kotori said, her posture a bit defensive.

"Ah, I apologize, I did not mean to stare." Rio bowed. "That said, I see now that you must be the 'dueling spirit' my brother must have meant."

"Eh?!" Yuma and Tetsuo looked at Rio, then at Kotori, and then at Rio again.

"I, I'm afraid I don't know what your brother might have meant, but I can assure you I'm not a dueling spirit or anything like that."

"Yeah," Tetsuo spoke, "she doesn't even duel."

"Really?" Rio looked Kotori over again. "Strange, you definitely have that sense about you; perhaps you should consider taking dueling up."

"Heh, good luck!" Yuma said, arms raised behind his head. "I tried to get her to duel for years, she never budged even once." Then he lowered his arms and got a thoughtful look on his face. "Wait, your brother said something about a dueling spirit?" His eyes bugged out. "Wait, do you...are you saying that Shark..."

Rio sighed at the utterence of that ridiculous nickname. "Yes, Ryouga Kamishiro is my twin brother, and right now you're my only lead to tracking him down." Yuma and the others sat down, stunned by her declaration. Rio sat down with them, staying on their level. "I take it I never came up when he dueled you."

"Well, actually, you kind of did, but all he did was mention your name, not that you were his sister or anything like that." Yuma put his hand on his chin. "Sorry, but, this is just...I mean, who'd have thought a guy like him would have a sister like you?"

Kotori thwacked Yuma on the back of his head. "What Yuma means is that we've never seen you at Heartland Middle School."

"Ah, that is simplicity itself; I don't attend Heartland Middle School, I go to the Vanguard Academy, a private institution that Ryouga could also have attended."

"Whoa, private school..." Tetsuo said, then he cleared his throat. "I guess you and Ryouga are pretty well off, huh?"

Rio shrugged. "We inherited a sizable sum from our parents." Ah, their faces became downcast. "They passed away years ago, I can assure you my brother and I came to terms with their passing a long time ago."

"I guess I understand." Yuma said, tension mounting in his brow. "My parents, they went missing a long time ago, so, it's not the same, but..." Kotori put her hand on Yuma's shoulder, and the tension disappeared.

"My mom and dad separated a couple years back, just couldn't get along at all after a certain point. Not the same thing by a long shot I know..."

"I can't really know myself what that's like." Kotori said. "My dad, he, he's off on business in Neo-Domino City, has been for a long time, only remembers to call home once in a blue moon."

"Interesting, but a distraction from why I came here." Rio stood up and addressed Yuma directly. "You dueled my brother, and when I saw him come home that day, he looked like the world had pulled out from under him, and all I could get from him was your name, something about a dueling spirit that you talked to, and cards he called Numbers. Of course, this wasn't the first time this sort of thing happened with him, but last time he did not disappear on me."

"He, he disappeared?" Yuma looked down. "Man, I know I hadn't seen him at school lately..."

"His attendance has never been that good; no, he disappeared some time the day before last, at least according to the note he'd left behind."

"He'd left a note?" Kotori said. "Can we see it?"

"I doubt it will make much difference, but I won't stop you." Rio reached into her pocket and presented them with a piece of paper.

"I'm not coming back until I defeat a Number?" Yuma read off, and his pupils shrank down. "He's going out of his way to find a Number? Why didn't you contact me sooner, he's in..."

"I did not find the note until I'd gotten home last night after having performed for my piano recital." Rio took the note back. "Now explain to me about these Numbers Yuma; what sort of cards are they that my brother would be so fixated on them?"

"They're bad news, okay? They get into your head and make you do all sorts of things, things you'd never do in your right mind, and you say all sorts of things that don't make any sense and you think you're talking to people who aren't there and...look, Shark's in way over his head and we need to get to him before he gets used by one of them again!"

Rio looked at Tetsuo and Kotori. "I know it sounds like something out of a musty old history book, but it's true, these cards really are out there." Tetsuo said.

"Trust me on this, Yuma knows what he's talking about and he'll do everything he can to keep anything from happening to Shark."

Indeed, when Rio looked back to Yuma, she saw that he'd moved on to Akari's office. "You're sure you haven't heard anything weird? Nothing like those robbers, or, or all the kids who were wandering around town playing that weird game?"

"Sorry Yuma, nothing like that's gone down lately. Why are you asking? You got reason to think something is going down?"

"No, but Shark's out there looking for something like that, and he could get really hurt, so if you hear about anything weird going on, you got to let me know right away!"

Akari looked at him a moment. "All right Kiddo, I'll put my nose to the grindstone for you, but you owe me big time, you got that? I've got headlines that aren't getting written for your sake."

"You got it!" Yuma ran out from the doorway, and then stopped; he was looking off into space, and before Rio could question this turn of events, Yuma was back with them. "Okay guys, Akari's going to do her part, so we need to do ours and get out there and get looking for your brother, Rio."

"So you do have an idea of where to look for these cards?"

"Not exactly, but I'm not going to figure it out by sitting around am I? Now come on, we've got to get moving!" Yuma ran for the front door, Rio and his friends followed.

"Just a minute there young man!" It was Grandma Haru, and they all froze, stuck to the ground by the authority of her voice. "Take these with you." Her voice turned genial, and she tossed each of them a rice ball. "Brain food." Rio understood that this was said for her benefit, and took a bite out of it. It was different and good, like the tea.

"Thanks Grandma!" Yuma waved to her along with Kotori and Tetsuo, Rio followed their example, and then Yuma ran off, forcing them to follow and dodge around the Obots.

They ran down the street this way and that, and every so often Yuma would pause a moment, stare off into space, and then run off in a completely different direction entirely from the way he'd been heading before. "To think that he managed to defeat Ryouga..."

"Hey, Rio?" Yuma stopped in his searching. "There's, there's kind of something I've been sorta meaning to ask." She waited for him to continue. "Um, did, did something happen to Ryouga at the Nationals? 'Cause, I kind of got the feeling that something did, something he was still really, really mad about."

"I've wondered about that too."

"You mean you weren't there?" Tetsuo said.

"No, I was at a kendo tournament at the time, and unlike Ryouga, I won." Rio spoke directly and bluntly, no pride or adornment to her words. "The official reports merely stated that he'd lost in the first round to an up-till-then unknown opponent who proceeded to win the tournament."

"Whoa, who was it?"

Rio shrugged. "Some foreign boy, or at least they had a foreign name; I didn't pay attention to that, merely that it was no one I'd ever heard of and had no reason to believe I would ever interact with."

"But...didn't Ryouga tell you about it? I mean, you told him about your victory at the kendo tournament, right?"

"Not beyond the fact that I'd won, no; none of my opponents, not even the final one, were worthy of mention. All that Ryouga said about his failure was that he'd never allow himself to lose to someone like that ever again."

"Huh." Tetsuo said. "You two are pretty independent, aren't you? I know if I tried to keep my mouth shut, she'd be prying it open and demanding to know what the heck I'm hiding from her." Yuma looked away.

"We've had to be." Rio turned to Yuma, her shoulders tense. "Well? Do you have any idea where my brother is yet, or are you just having us run in circles for your own amusement?"

"Ah, um, just a second!" Yuma turned away from her and started gesturing at the air. "You sure?" Was...was he actually talking to a spirit? When her brother had said that, she hadn't thought to take it literally, but at this point it was that or Yuma's grasp on reality was so tenuous as to render him entirely useless, and if so, how could he have possibly defeated Ryouga. "All right!" Yuma turned back to her. "We're getting close, or at least we're getting close to a Number, and maybe Ryouga will be there or something, but either way we've got to get moving!" Yuma finished off the last of his riceball and ran for it, forcing the rest of them to follow.

Yuma's and his friends' D-Gazers started beeping, they paused to put them on, and after a moment Rio's did as well. She put hers on and saw Akari's face, heard her voice. "I don't know how you're doing it Yuma, but you're not far from something real strange going on."

"What exactly do you mean?" Rio said.

"What I mean is that it looks like a kid matching Ryouga's description is in a duel, only for some reason every so often people passing by are getting hurt, and they're not even wearing their D-Gazers or linked into the duel or anything like that."

"Oh no." Yuma said in a sunken voice. "Everyone, hurry, before we're too late!" He ran off even faster than before.

"And he's already disconnected." Akari said in a tone that conveyed a familiar irritation, one that Rio had used in regards to Ryouga many times. "Guys, make sure he doesn't get in over his head, okay?"

"Always do!" Kotori and Tetsuo said at the same time, and so they chased after Yuma.

"I may end up doing that myself." After all, if there was any truth to what they were all saying...

"Damn it!" Rio ran faster, ran past Tetsuo and Kotori, ran past Yuma around the corner, drawn by her brother's voice. She stopped when she saw him crouching before his opponent, a familiar young man in a kimono standing on some steps above Ryouga. "You think you've won, don't you?" Rio linked her D-Gazer to the duel in progress, and saw a humanoid Exceed monster floating in the air above Ryouga's opponent with the number 74 on the left side of its turban. She also noted that no one was around besides the Obots, no one in immediate visual range at least.

"I know I have, and what's more, my real target's just arrived." The young man looked Rio in the eye, and Ryouga followed his gaze.

"You!" Ryouga scowled at the sight of her. "I told you, I'd return when I'd defeated a Number!"

"And are you going to do that? Your hand and field are empty, have you perhaps something in your grave that can turn everything around?" Ryouga growled but did not respond. Rio sighed, shook her head, and addressed his opponent. "And what did you mean by calling me your real target, Shichiro Mashima?"

"Good, good you do remember me." He chuckled, bared his teeth at her. "I certainly remembered you quite well after our match, I've never had an opponent as capable as you."

"I only remember you because you are standing right in front of me, foolishly making a fool of my brother. Now tell me, what is going on here, and just what is that monster of yours?" For some reason the effect text for Shichiro's card wouldn't display properly, it was too fuzzy to read.

"This?" Shichiro pointed to his monster. "Why, it's the key to my revenge against you, it just fell out of the sky and into my lap, and then I came upon your brother and thought to myself, why not take out two birds with one stone?" He chuckled again, his expression increasingly manic. Rio examined her brother, there was something seriously wrong; there were moments when it looked like he'd been cut up all over. "I was planning on sending you all the juicy details after I'd finished dealing with your brother, but since you're already here, I'll just go ahead and defeat him right now."

Shichiro's monster twirled its fingers and summoned transparent knives, was about to throw them. "Wait." Rio said, grabbing his attention. "Cancel this duel right now and I will face you."

"And if I don't?"

"Then you will never get the chance to duel me, or anyone else ever again."

"W-wait!" Yuma stepped forward. "Rio, you don't understand, these Number cards, they're real dangerous, you can't..."

"You have done your part Yuma." Rio cut him off. "You helped me to get here before it was too late and for that you have my gratitude, but your role here is over."

"B-but..." Yuma looked off to the side again, then back to her. "A-all right, just be careful okay? If this guy was beating Shark, he's got to be good."

"He'd better be, or else things will get much worse for my brother before they get better." Rio took out her D-Pad, armed it, addressed Shichiro. "Well? Will you cancel the current duel, or will I have to make you?" Ryouga made a gutteral groan as he gripped his chest, but Rio ignored him.

Shichiro made an over dramatic shivering motion. "Man, just like at the tournament, you know? I swear, those cold eyes of yours, they probably beat most all of your opponents before they even drew their swords." Shichiro pushed a button on his D-Pad, and the current duel was over and done with, no result. "Those eyes aren't going to help you in this battle though, there's no chink in my armor for you to exploit, and nothing I want more than to see you sliced into ribbons where you stand." Shichiro snickered.

"Then I will take the first turn, so that you'll have your chance all the sooner." Rio drew her cards, saw the path before her that would see her and Ryouga back home, where they belonged. "I set one monster, and then two cards to end my turn."

"Turn 2, Rio Kamishiro: 4000 life points, Shichiro Mashima: 4000 life points."

"Just like how our previous match started, Rio." Shichiro played at shaking in place before drawing his card. "Let the opponent make the first strike, have your guard up but conceal just what it looks like; I'd criticize it, but it worked didn't it? You walked away with the trophy and accolades, and I, I who carried my father's technique with me, had to return home with just my sword."

"And I'm supposed to care?" Rio narrowed her eyes. "You went after my brother while his emotional state was disturbed, and you want me to care one whit about your family history?"

Shichiro shook his head. "Oh, I wasn't expecting someone like you to care, I just want to make sure that our guests understand why they're going to have to suffer along with you." He rolled his head around. "See, the monster you saw before, it's so powerful, it's hard to keep it all on my opponent, some of it's just got to spill out and take someone else down, it's just too much you know? But hey, once I've carved you up for good, that'll be the end of it! I summon Valkyrian Knight!" An armored woman with a feathered helmet appeared, sword held aloft before her with 1900 attack points. "Attack, the first stroke is mine." His monster's sword burst into flame, and so it swung to launch that fire at her monster, forcing it to reveal itself.

Rio's card turned over, an owl with feathers like hail streaking across the sky appeared, it's white feathers burned black and its body reduced to ash. "Hail Owl's effect activates; when sent to grave I banish it and add a level-4 or lower Water Winged-Beast monster from my deck to my hand." Her chosen monster was launched from her deck into her waiting hand.

"And you think that I would let you prepare your counterstrike without having mine already in motion?" Shichiro snapped his fingers and whipped his arm out. "When you add a monster from your deck to your hand except by drawing, that activates the level 7 Puppet King's effect and lets me special summon it from my hand!" There was a thunderous shake as Shichiro's new monster dropped onto the field, a gigantic living chess piece with 2800 attack points. "Now, when summoned by this effect, it'll be destroyed during my next turn's end phase, but that's still going to be plenty of time to show you that you're just too slow! Puppet King, direct attack!" Two fists like hammers were brought together, the monster floated its way to her, slow and pondorous despite Shichiro's declaration.

"I activate my permanent trap card, Ultimate Offering and pay 500 life points to set a monster from my hand." The card was only on the field for a moment before Puppet King attacked, crushing her Squall Kite and breaking its talons. "Your power is a useless thing that will not touch me, for my technique exists on a level that you do not see."

"Heh, but your life points still went down, and you still have no monsters on your field, so go ahead, use that card all you want; you'll just burn through your hand and your life until there's nothing left and I'll still come out ahead; it's you who's blind Rio, you're the lousy upstart who showed up out of nowhere and didn't understand their place, didn't understand that I was meant to be victorious, not you!"

"So is your turn done, or do you have more than just prattle available to you?"

"Oh, I have more, and it's not just prattle!" Shichiro snarled. "I set one card and end my turn!"

"Turn 3, Rio Kamishiro: 3500 life points, Shichiro Mashima: 4000 life points."

Rio drew her card, her path remained before her. "First, I activate my permanent spell card Glacier Gathering." The air became cold, deathly cold, but Rio did not feel it. "Once per turn while this card is on the field, when I control no monsters I may add a level-4 or lower Water attribute monster from my deck to my hand." As before, her deck sent her card to her in accordance with her will. "Then, I banish Squall Kite in my grave to special summon a Kite token to the field." A hollowed out crystal shaped like the true Squall Kite appeared before Rio. "With that, I am now able to activate my other permanent trap card, Permafrost Gathering." The icy sensation grew more intense, but it did not touch Rio. "Once per turn, I may return two banished Water monsters to my deck and draw one card." Squall Kite and Hail Owl showed themselves for a moment before nesting in Rio's deck again, raising her next card for her. "With this, I now sacrifice my Kite Token to summon Hazy Flame Hyppogriff."

The clapping of hooves on pavement, feathers slicing through the air, and embers cracking, these were the sounds that heralded the arrival of Rio's monster that banished the cold with 2100 attack points. "Ha, that's all? You did all that searching and all that spell and trap noise, and in the end you still don't have a monster that can face up to Puppet King?"

"Why would I waste my time with something like that, when your monster will conveniently rid me of itself in due course?" Shichiro sneered. "I will however attack Valkyrian Knight for 200 points of damage." Rio's monster attacked, letting loose a hideous shriek that snapped and sparked in the air.

"You'll get your damage, but you won't get my monster; trap card activate, Impenetrable Attack!" A barrier appeared all around Valkyrian Knight. "Now, during my battle phase, Valkyrian Knight can't be destroyed by battle or by card effects, so nothing you do matters here." The fire reached Shichiro, cutting into his fists as he held them before his face. "And this level of damage is nothing to me, less then the scratches I earned every day and night I'd spent practicing my father's technique."

"Then I suppose I will have to strike harder next time, if only to end your noise all the sooner. I will set one card now and end my turn; make your strike as you will."

"Turn 4, Rio Kamishiro: 3500 life points, Shichiro Mashima: 3800 life points."

"Damn, what does it take to break that arrogance of yours? I meet you move for move and yet you're not even the least little bit worried." Shichiro rolled his head back. "I'd really hoped I'd get a little terror into that frozen heart of yours before having to go all out, but it looks like it's all going to happen all at once." He whipped his head back into its original position. "I equip Valkyrian Knight with Grade Sword so that it will count as two sacrifices for the summon of my level 7 Sword Hunter!" A man in cobbled together armor holding two swords and many more in sheaths all over its body with 2450 attack points. "Sword Hunter, attack Hyppogriff and claim its power for your own."

Sword Hunter disappeared in a flash of light and reappeared behind Hazy Flame Hyppogriff, two blades already driven through Rio's monster for 350 points of damage. "How foolish; you should have attacked with Puppet King, you would have done more damage that way; as is, your next attack will be wasted."

"No it won't, because you'll still lose life points and you're still going to lose your monster!" Puppet King attacked again, and just as with the previous turn, Rio activated Ultimate Offering, paying 500 life points to set Sleet Tail, a pale white peacock that did not last even a moment before it's destruction. "And now, in the end phase, I get to take your Hyppogriff from the grave and equip it to Sword Hunter, increasing my monster's attack power by 200 points!" The specter of Hazy Flame Hyppogriff appeared and transformed into a sword that flew to Sword Hunter, bringing its attack power to 2650. "Fast and unfailing, always increasing in power, cutting off my opponent from any counter attack, that is the style that was passed down to me!"

"And in just a moment you will lose your Puppet King, and with that your chance to summon your...Number, but when you do overlay Sword Hunter, Hyppogriff will return to my grave, and thus your choice to attack first with Sword Hunter is revealed to be nothing more than self-congratulatory grandstanding; if that is indeed the technique your father passed down to you, it is no wonder that I defeated you in the final match."

"Oh, is that what you think? That's what you think huh?" Shichiro was shaking all over. "Well, you know something? WHO GIVES A DAMN WHAT YOU THINK!?" Was...was his body glowing? And...did the ground crack over next to him? Was something happening with the AR link? "You, you're nothing but an orphan, you have nothing and no one, you care about no one and when you're gone no one will even notice! A creature like you, who dares get in the way of my future while having none of their own, there is only one punishment for that, and that is death!" Shichiro spread both arms out. "I overlay Sword Hunter and Puppet King." As Rio had said, her monster returned to her grave, rendering Sword Hunter's effect null and void; however, rather then the red spiral that normally signified the occurrence of an Exceed Summon, a pattern like a spiral galaxy spun about. "My ultimate and most hidden card, my most deadly technique that can't be quenched by my opponent's blood alone." The spiral exploded, and Rio had to brace herself to keep her footing. "Presenting, one and all, the monster that will slice and dice until there's nothing left, Number 74, Master of Blades!"

What looked like a snowflake enlarged hundreds of times appeared, and it spun and twisted until it had transformed into the turbaned figure that had been moments away from defeating Ryouga. "Are you going to ask me what that monster's effects are?" Ryouga said.

"Of course not; I will face it with the same awareness you had."

"Good."

"Hah, some brother and sister duo you two are, putting your empty meaningless pride before anything else." The Number 74 was now branded on Shichiro's forehead. "Well, go ahead; my Number has 2700 attack points, show me if you can overcome that from nothing."

"Turn 5, Rio Kamishiro: 2650 life points, Shichiro Mashima: 3800 life points."

Rio drew her card. "I control no monsters and so I activate Glacier Uprising's effect." The air chilled again as Rio received her next card. "With that, I summon Snowflake Eagle." Rio's monster dove down from the sky and circled Master of Blades. "Now I pay 500 life points and sacrifice Snowflake Eagle to summon Hazy Flame Peryton." The bird disappeared, and a burning winged stag arrived in its place with 1600 attack points. "Now I activate its effect, and send one Fire monster from my hand to the grave and sacrifice Peryton to special summon two Hazy Flame monsters from my deck; come forth, Sphynx and Mantikor." The heat became sweltering as Peryton flapped its wings, fanning its own flames until it had exhausted its own being to summon Rio's new monsters.

"And now you're going to overlay them into a Rank 6 monster, and you're going to keep trying to get ahead with smaller weaker monsters; honestly, are you ever going to put any effort into this, or would that just be too damn damaging to your proud frozen image?"

"Ask you will receive, chattering monkey; I activate Sphynx's effect." Three cards appeared in the air before Rio's monster, one orange, one green, and one purple. "I declare one card type and send the top card of my deck to the grave, and if it is the declared type, I special summon a Hazy Flame monster from my grave." Rio went over all the cards she'd drawn and all the cards she'd retrieved from her deck, and the cards that she'd returned to her deck. "I declare a spell card." The two other cards before Sphynx disappeared, Rio picked up the top card of her deck, and the green border was all that she needed to see. "Now I will special summon Hazy Flame Hyppogriff back from the grave, and overlay my three level six monsters." The familiar crimson light, that reminiscent warmth, and Rio's Exceed monster appeared, a creature that was half fire, half snake, half bird with three orbs of light orbiting it. "While Hazy Flame Basiltrice normally only has 2500 attack points, when it has at least three Exceed materials attached it gains 200 attack and defense for each one."

Rio's monster shrieked as its attack power climbed to 3100. "Most impressive, and if things were the same as they were before, if things were the same as they were at the tournament..." Shichiro's eyes bugged out. "But they're not the same, and no amount of power on your side can possibly change that! Your empty pride, your frozen arrogance, all will end with my burning blades searing every last inch of your body!"

"Then there should be no problem with my monster becoming even more powerful; I banish Snowflake Eagle in my grave to increase Hazy Flame Basiltrice's attack power by 600 until your end phase," A fine crystal mist of snow surrounded Rio's monster, turning into burning scalding steam, "and now you will suffer the beginning of my wrath; Hazy Flame Basiltrice, attack!"

Rio's monster leaped into the air and rolled forward to whip its tail down against Master of Blades, sparks and embers exploding everywhere for 1000 points of damage. "But as you can see Rio, this blade can't be defeated by such crude methods." Yes, Master of Blades was still on the field, grinning up a storm. "A Number can only be defeated by a Number, one who has inherited their power can not, must not ever be defeated by an abandoned welp such as yourself!"

"In which case, I will simply activate Basiltrice's effect." Basiltrice flew up until the sun was at its back. "By detaching an Exceed unit, I banish one monster my opponent controls or is in their graveyard, and I of course target your Number monster." Hazy Flame Basiltrice burst into white hot fire and dived down into Shichiro's monster.

"Ha, the same mistake, the same pathetic mistake your brother had made! Trying to target Master of Blades with a monster effect!" Shichiro snapped his fingers and spun about. "Now, to reveal it, the ultimate and unbreakable counterstrike, a reverse blow without peer or equal! When targeted by a card effect, I detach an Exceed material from Master of Blades to negate your card's effect and destroy it!" Number 74, Master of Blades, summoned a knife made of energy and twirled it between its fingers before throwing it and embedding it in Basiltrice's skull.

"Gyahhhh!" Rio grabbed her head and realized it hadn't split open. For a split second she saw a blade in her skull, realized that Master of Blades had thrown two knives at once.

"Oh, and that's not the end of it, oh no; see, once your card is destroyed, I get to destroy another one! Yes, this counterblow, this refusal of your attack is twice as strong as the one you tried to use against me! History will not repeat itself, you won't slip past my guard again! And for that matter, neither will your brother!"

Master of Blades juggled a pair of knives, tossed one at Ultimate Offering and the other at Ryouga. "Rio!" He yelled, voice strained as she stepped in front of him, grabbing the knife out of the air; it didn't cut, not really, but there was no telling that to her hands or her head. "What the hell were you thinking?!"

"Only that I could not allow his cowardice to go unchecked." The knife faded, as did the other that had destroyed Ultimate Offering, and the pain passed, only shadow lingering as so many of her nightmares had before. "Shichiro, this is how you dueled against my brother?"

"Yep, stupid weakling even did what you just did, jumping in the way of the other knife to try and protect some hapless passerby; stupid, right? You two go out of your way to pick a fight with me to boost your ego to fill the emptiness of the abandoned, and then you try to pretend to be a hero?" He cackled. "Hilarious!"

"I'd say that you're the only joke here, except you're the only one laughing." Rio glared at Shichiro. "If your position was so fragile, so easily threatened that you had to become this in order to challenge me...well, I can safely say now that you stand no chance against me, and you will receive no mercy in turn."

"No chance...please! I just destroyed your only monster, and I got rid of that obnoxious Ultimate Offering so there won't be anymore summoning in defense to save you, no more throwing away more family heirlooms just to scrape by and survive another day as a miserable unloved wretch!"

"Then surely you can take your turn without fear or posturing, can't you?"

"Turn 6, Rio Kamishiro: 2150 life points, Shichiro Mashima: 2800 life points."

Shichiro drew his card with a flourish. "Yes, I most certainly can now! For you see, in my hand is the one monster that can cut off your last possible blow, your final counter is sealed forever! I summon Chow Len the Prophet!" A bald man in old and tattered robes appeared, a dragon tattoo consuming half his face, if that was what it really was. "Once per turn, I can declare spell or trap, and then I check one face-down card on your side of the field, and its the right type, you can't activate that card on this turn. So, let us see if your face-down card is a trap!" Rio revealed her face-down Hazy Glory to him. "Hmm, summon a Hazy Flame monster with one less sacrifice, and you can also send it to the grave to add a Hazy Flame card from the grave to the hand...what a cute bluff, but nothing more, and meaningless besides, for it is still sealed!" Chow Len chanted, and a seal branded itself over Rio's card. "Now, with my final and ultimate strike I will defeat Rio, and my father's name, my father's technique, my father's legacy, my existence, all of them will be redeemed in this last technique that I've mastered! Number 74, fulfill my dreams, bring satisfaction to my heart and soul, and destroy Rio Kamishiro!"

Master of Blades twirled and tumbled all over the place so fast it was almost impossible for Rio to follow its movements. Almost. "I banish Sleet Tail in my grave to activate its effect, one that does not target your monster itself." Rio's monster appeared again as a specter and froze the ground that Master of Blades stood upon. "When you declare an attack, I can negate that attack, and furthermore, I target one other monster you control and change it to defense position." Sleet Tail flew from Master of Blades to Chow Len the Prophet, bringing to it a chill that reached its soul and forced it inward, unable to attack. "Your ultimate and final attack amounts to nothing."

"A mere delay of the inevitable, one that I will weather with ease! I activate the permanent spell card Vengeful Bog Spirit, preventing monsters from attacking on the turn that they are summoned! In other words, as I already have two high attack monsters on the field, it will be impossible for you to ever attack me ever again!"

"Turn 7, Rio Kamishiro: 2150 life points, Shichiro Mashima: 2800 life points."

"You think that, because only now have you pushed me to the point of using my full power, a mistake you will not repeat for the rest of your life." Rio drew her card.

"Oh yeah? And just how are you going to do that?" Shichiro's grin almost split his face in half.

"Observe; first I activate Glacier Uprising and add Squall Kite from my deck to my hand, and then I activate Permafrost Gathering to return Snowflake Eagle and Sleet Tail to my deck and draw one card." Yes, the real purpose of Snowflake Eagle's effect was not merely to inflict additional damage, but to set up this combo. "As you control a monster, and all the monsters on my side or in my grave are fire attribute, I special summon Hazy Flame Griffin in defense." Rio's monster snarled and clawed at the ground. "Then I summon Hail Owl and activate Double Summon to summon Squall Kite to the field, and overlay them both." The two frozen birds flew into the red spiral, and with that crimson energy a new monster emerged, a woman of ice and wings with 2000 attack points.

"Still can't attack, still weaker than Master of Blades, and if you try to do anything to it, you'll feel that power thrown back at you twofold." Shichrio wrung his hands together in satisfaction.

Rio smiled for the first time. "Then I won't target Master of Blades; I activate Ice Beast Zerofyne's effect, and detach Squall Kite to negate the effect of every card you control." Rio's monster clasped its hands together and released them, showering Shichiro's side of the field with ice coating over everything. "Then, for every card on the field other than itself, Ice Beast Zerofyne gains 300 attack points." Rio's monster raised its hands over its head, creating a massive sword made of ice, drawing power from seven different cards; Glacier Uprising, Permafrost Gathering, Hazy Glory, Hazy Flame Griffin, Master of Blades, Chow Len the Prophet, and Vengeful Bog Spirit. Thus, Rio's monster now had 4100 attack points.

Shichiro's eyes were twitching, his hands shaking. "With Bog Spirit negated, you can attack, and, and with Master of Blades's effect negated..." His jaw kept opening and closing, silence all that came of it.

"It's monster effect that prevents it from being destroyed by battle except against a Number monster is negated as well; you believed that since your monster couldn't be targeted by effects, that weakness could not be exploited." Rio closed her eyes and found herself standing again in the aftermath of their Kendo match. "It is the same as before; you were given a gift and added nothing to it, and so I defeated you. Time has passed on for me, but not for you, and so you will remain frozen, helpless to do anything against me or my brother." With a mighty swing Ice Beast Zerofyne cut Number 74 in half for 1400 points of damage, reducing his life in half along with his monster. "Ice Beast Zerofyne's effect will continue until my standby phase, you will not be able to escape. Now, take your turn, our match hasn't ended yet."

"Turn 8, Rio Kamishiro: 2150 life points, Shichiro Mashima: 1400 life points."

She glared into his eyes, forcing him to draw; he had begun this senseless fight, he had targeted Ryouga as part of his mad plot, and now he would have no control over its conclusion. "I, I set one monster and end my turn!" His tears welled up as he made his move.

"Turn 9, Rio Kamishiro: 2150 life points, Shichiro Mashima: 1400 life points."

Rio drew her card, and the ice receded. "I activate Hazy Glory to summon Hazy Flame Cerbereus without sacrifice, and then I banish Squall Kite in my grave to special summon a Kite token." Fire and ice were mounting on Rio's side of the field. "With this, I activate Ice Beast Zerofyne's effect and detach Hail Owl to negate the effects of your cards and gain 2700 attack points, bringing my monster to 4700." Shichiro's legs were shaking, his knees knocking together. "With that, I now send Hazy Glory to the grave to return Hazy Flame Basilitrice to my Extra Deck, and then overlay Griffin and Cerbereus to Exceed Summon Basiltrice back to the field!" Fire and ice were now together in equal measure, both would come together to end Shichiro's world. "I detach Griffin to banish your face down monster, attack Chow Len with Basiltrice, and then attack directly with Zerofyne!"

The sun at its back, Hazy Flame Basiltrice became a white hot fireball that burned Shichiro's face down monster into oblivion, and then it snapped its tail at Chow Len the Prophet, breaking every bone in its body before destroying it entirely. Then, then came the finishing strike, Ice Beast Zerofyne wielding a crystalline blade of ice twice as large as itself with the grace and delicacy of a carving knife, and in that manner it carved away every last one of Shichiro's life points, leaving behind only an unconscious heap on the ground. "Wow, Astral, did you see that?"

Fire! Fire and screams! Metal jabbing and cutting! Screams! Gold and fire, red and yellow! Tears, holes inside! Why? Why?! Choked sobs came out from Rio's mouth, someone was crying through her, crying and furious! All gone, all gone, all of them were gone now! All of them were taken, they'd taken everyone, killed everyone! Grabbed them and dragged them and...

"Rio!" Yuma's voice was high and shrill. "You've got to give me the Numbers right away, before it's too late!" She looked down at her hand and saw Number 74 in it, when had she taken it? No, she hadn't, that was right, it was just suddenly in her head and...REVENGE! Him, it was his fault, he was behind it, she'd destroy him and his friends, all of them! "Please, this is all my fault, if it weren't for me...I'm the only one who can take care of the Numbers, so let me help you!"

Rio felt the heat of the visions and the pressure of the sounds fade, and she realized that Ryouga was holding her. She turned her head to get a better look at Yuma. She handed the card to him, and she swore that his hand glowed, but she realized it was the release of that card's hold over her. "Rio." Ryouga said, simply that.

"I'm fine now." The pinprick needle sensation was almost completely gone, the sensation of stone and sand under fingers had diminished almost to nothing. She stood up and looked around, saw Yuma collapsed onto his back while Kotori and Tetsuo fussed openly over him, a lot of questions about his condition and what had just happened. Rio lingered on that for a moment before turning to Shichiro, who was now prostrating himself before her, his head touching the grouch; the lowest bow possible, and the shame that came with it.

"Rio Kamishiro, even though I couldn't control myself, I refuse to make any excuses." His voice lost its manic edge, it was the way he'd spoken back at their match in the kendo tournament. "My impulses were mine and I should not have had them to begin with; I will do whatever you command of me, even commit seppuku to cleanse the shame that I have brought to my father's technique." He kept still, waited for her response.

"It is not up to me." Rio watched Shichiro remain on the ground, the shadows of the visions crossing over her eyes, overlaying the present scene before her. "Your redemption is a matter best left between you and your father."

"You...do you...do you mean that?" He raised his head, looked up at her, tears coating his cheeks. Rio nodded. "Oh, thank you, thank you so much!" He stumbled back to his feet, getting tangled up in his kimono. "I, I don't know how, I don't know when, but someday I swear I will make this up to you, I will repay this debt to you, I vow it on my father's technique!" He bowed again and ran off and out of sight.

Good, now she could deal with what mattered most. "Ryouga." They stood facing one another. "You went through that before, against Yuma." No response. "What the hell were you thinking? If we hadn't found you..." Her breath seethed, her fist shook.

"...You should have listened, I'd told you I was coming back, why didn't you listen?" Ryouga's nostrils flared. "Just don't get involved again, I'm not going back home until I've defeated one of them." He turned around, turned his back on her.

"What happened at the Nationals?" Ryouga stopped. "The last time you were like this was after you were defeated there, and you didn't go this far back then; why are you acting like this Ryouga, you've never been like this after losing before."

"...If you were to lose at dueling, at kendo, and at piano, if you were to start failing at all of those, what would you do?"

"Then I would put more of my time towards soccer or calligraphy."

"Exactly; if you fail at one thing, you have something else you can fall back on, so you don't feel any pressure." Ryouga's fists were clenched so tight his knuckles turned white. "Dueling...dueling is the one thing I stand out in, it's the only thing anyone respected me for, and I dedicated everything I had to being the best I could possibly be..." Ryouga turned and pointed at Yuma. "Then, at the Nationals, in the very first match, I had an opponent just like you! Stupid and playful and never taking anything seriously for even a moment, and he had the crowd eating out of his hands, every insipid mannerism precious in their eyes. And I lost to him, he defeated me soundly, a one-sided match with him always in control and the most humiliating finish possible, and not even a day later people talked about me like I was old news, a has-been, a never-was." He looked back into Rio's eyes, emptiness inside capturing her reflection.

"Shark, I..." Yuma stood back up, his friends still at his side. He grabbed his pendent, The Emperor's Key. "When I'd kept going on about becoming Duel Champion..."

"You don't understand Rio, you never have." Ryouga spoke to her as though Yuma hadn't said anything, as though there had been no interruption. "So just listen to me, and don't interfere again." He waited though, he didn't walk away but instead waited.

"...Ryouga." Rio sighed. "There are a lot of things I can afford to fail at, there are many things where I'm not particularly worried if my talent runs out on or not, but you are not one of them." He stood silent.

"She's telling the truth." Kotori said. "Rio's gone way out of her way to find you, she came all the way to Yuma's house and spoke with him and his family on the off chance that they might have a clue where you were. You're her brother, so start acting like it."

"Yeah man, be grateful!" Tetsuo said. "You think you're the only one out there who doesn't think they can measure up, think that you're the only one trying to show that you really are strong? It sucks and all, but you just got to suck it up and let Rio help you already!"

"Shark." Yuma stepped forward. "I, um, that is...arghh, look, just, just go back home with Rio, okay? You guys are all you've got, so don't make her worry about you if you can, you got it? And if you ever think about messing with the Numbers again, call me up, 'cause it's like you saw with Rio, even if you do beat those things on your own, they'll just start messing with your head all over again."

"Fine." Ryouga said. "I'll make my own bed when we get back." He stepped forward, only to stumble. Rio caught him.

"Just this once, I'll make an exception." She slung his arm over her shoulder and turned so that they were facing Yuma and his friends. "I owe you all a great deal. I will repay this debt before long."

"S-sure." Yuma smiled awkwardly. "You don't have to worry or rush on it or anything like that though."

"And you don't need an excuse to drop by." Kotori gave a little bow. "I'd definitely like to be able to spend some free time with you, without all...this, going on."

"Me too!" Tetsuo cleared his throat. "Seriously, you're just an incredible person Rio."

"I'll keep all that in mind." She nodded her head at them, then turned and left, Ryouga walking with her past the Obots.

* * *

"Astral, you know you're real lucky, right?" Yuma said, alone in his room and with no one to listen in on him. "I can't believe I let you talk me into letting Rio duel that Number User all on her own, who knows what could have happened to her?"

"It was necessary Yuma; Rio's skill and power were apparent from the start, so I had to know if she could have gathered the Numbers for me as well. She could not, or rather, the risk and danger, to say nothing of the potential damage, render using her for such a purpose untenable."

"I'll say." Yuma muttered. "So, what'd you get out of this Number? Any new memories?"

"This one is disorganized compared to the others; particularly the last one, Number 34; that one concerned applicable knowledge on managing subordinates, no small part of why I'd wanted to test Rio in the way I did, but number 74...it is bursts of emotion and fury, difficult for me to dwell on. I will likely need more Numbers to comprehend this memory."

"Great, just great." Yuma flopped back onto his hammock. "And this after Akari spent all dinner bugging me for more details on that duel." What, he was going to tell her about the whole thing with Rio and Shark? After what they'd been through, the last thing they needed was his sis' going over to their place and bugging them for answers. "Welp, 8 Numbers down, 91 to go, right?"

"Assuming that I didn't forget about any of my forgotten memories, yes."

Yuma blinked. He looked at Astral, he had a weird look on his face. "Was, was that a joke?"

Astral blinked back. "I think there was more to that last Number than I'd consciously realized."

Yuma grinned. "Well, don't quit your day job just yet."

"Excuse me?"

"Nevermind." Yuma looked over at his clock, groaned. "Astral, you sure you can't do my homework for me?"

"I neither have the capacity nor the desire to sabotage the purpose of your education."

"Yuma!" He heard Akari calling from down below. "You're doing your homework right? You're not getting out of this!"

"Right, right!" So Yuma slumped his way over to his desk and got to work.


	6. Chapter 6

Sister

* * *

"Yuma? Hey, wake up Yuma." Yuma groaned as he turned over and saw Akari standing over him with a way nice look on her face; since when had she ever had that kind of look on her face?

"What is it?" Yuma looked over at the nearby clock. "It's two in the morning..." He looked at Akari, and for a moment Yuma thought he saw someone with Akari, but no, it was just Astral, wasn't it?

"I know, but I just got a tip on a big scoop and I need to go investigate it right away." Yuma glanced over and saw Astral looking out the window, so who was that next to Akari, and why hadn't they said anything?

"So go investigate, why do you gotta wake me up for?" Yuma turned back over and clenched his eyes shut.

"Because I'm going to be gone all day so I don't want you waking up in the morning and wondering where the heck I am."

"F-fine, how long are you gonna be gone?" It'd be good to know just how long Akari was gonna be out of his hair.

"I'll be back in time for dinner." So of course she was rubbing his head, mussing up his hair. "Just do what Grandma says while I'm gone and try not to make trouble for your friends, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, can I go back to sleep now?"

"Just a second." Huh, wha...oh, great, she kissed him on the forehead, like he was some stupid baby! "Sweet dreams baby bro." He heard her walking away and turned over to stick his tongue out at her, but seeing her back like that in the darkness, Yuma realized who it was he saw with her, and why her face looked so weird and nice to him before; this was just like when his mom and dad took off that night, they'd woken him up in the middle of the night to let him know they were going, his dad rubbed his head and his mom kissed his cheek and they'd said that they'd be back soon.

That was five years ago.

* * *

"So she took off, just like that?" It was lunchtime, and Tetsuo and Kotori were eating lunch with him; Yuma saw Shark eating by himself, he'd tried to invite the guy over but he just...ah, whatever, Yuma knew that Shark had his sister, he would be just fine. "Yuma, you listening?" Tetsuo said, drawing Yuam's eyes back to him.

"Yeah yeah, I heard you." Yuma took a bite of the lunch that his Grandma had made for him; it was the best, like always. "Really, the weird part's that she actually told me she was taking off; she's always split without saying anything before, why say something now?"

"Well, there's all this weird stuff with the Numbers going on." Yuma stopped eating when Kotori's words reached him. "Even if we've been keeping the details secret, rumors are getting out there, people know that something's going on, even if they don't know what and don't even really believe that anything's out of the ordinary." She was looking down at her food, avoiding his eyes.

"So what are you saying? She thinks she might be looking into something to do with the Numbers?" Yuma shook his head. "Even is she were, she's way too smart to get stuck or trapped or any dumb junk like that, and even if something like that did happen, which it won't, the Number'll be getting the short end of that stick."

"I don't know Yuma." Tetsuo took a bite of his lunch. "My sis is tough like yours, I mean heck, Akari even taught her some Karate and all that, but when those robbers hit our home, you saw how she was; the Numbers, there's no making heads or tails of them and that's pretty damn scary, especially for adults." And though he knew about it now, he hadn't seen the way she'd reacted to when Fuya had been possessed by his Number.

"Okay, maybe you got a point, but, well," Yuma looked over at Astral, "Even if all that stuff does happen and Akari does get in over her head, I'm sure I'll be able to find her and bail her out." Heck, if it did come to that, which it wasn't, she'd owe him, have to start treating him differently, realize that he wasn't just some dumb screw-up burden or anything like that. Astral tilted his head and had a questioning look on his face but he said nothing; it sure was a good thing he was so okay with being quiet when he was talking with his friends, it would have been a real nightmare if he had to keep shouting at the air to knock it off.

"Well, let's just keep our fingers crossed." Kotori said. "I'm sure you're right Yuma, but all the same..."

"It will be okay, okay?" If Kotori kept that up, then he was going to get all worried and junk. "Now come on, let's eat our lunch before the bell rings." The bell rang, and so they ran and ate on their way back to class.

* * *

"Yuma, the food's getting cold." Grandma Haru said as they were seated at the dinner table, but Yuma didn't budge. The clock ticked loudly in the silence, each sound distinct.

"She said she'd be back for dinner, I ain't budging, you know how she is if I eat before everyone's seated." Yuma had his arms crossed, and even when his stomach growled he kept his hands tight against his body and away from the chopsticks on the table.

"Yuma, you do understand that even if Akari said that, something could have easily come up." He did not pout when he looked away from Grandma Haru. "Eat, Yuma; food can't fix a bad mood, but an empty stomach will make it even worse."

"..." It did smell good, and Grandma Haru had fixed his favorite, riceballs with all kinds of different fish stuffed into each one. His stomach grumbled, plainly not getting why he wasn't eating. "Okay, but when Akari gets home, I'm telling her it was your idea to eat without her." Yuma and his Grandma ate in silence, and when they were done, Akari still hadn't gotten back. They cleaned up the dishes, and Akari wasn't home. Bedtime came, Yuma brushed his teeth and changed into his pajamas, and Akari was nowhere to be found.

"Couldn't you contact her on her D-Gazer?" Astral asked as Yuma looked up at the ceiling from his hammock. "It would seem to me that would be the most logical way to resolve this disconcerting matter, or to at least determine if there is cause for concern."

"No, she has it turned off when she's investigating something, she doesn't want to risk someone noticing her signal."

"An overall prudent course of action that nevertheless leaves us unable to get a hold of her." Astral brought out Number 83. "While it is not exactly the same, my observations of the relationship between you and your sister is in certain ways akin to a parent child relationship." He put the card back into himself.

"...You can be really stupid sometimes, you know that Astral?" Yuma turned over, he wasn't looking at Astral anymore.

"I suppose I can be; there is much about you and this world you live in that it is still profoundly confusing to me. Even so, I do not believe I am wrong in this regard, and your terse response suggests that you know that I'm right."

"Argh, I'm going to sleep now; wake me up if you sense a Number, you got that?"

"I would do so regardless of your invitation to do so Yuma, as they still represent my highest priority."

"Whatever." Yuma grumbled as he closed his eyes, but he did not go to sleep for some time.

That was the end of the first day.

* * *

"Oi, Yuma, you okay down there?" Tetsuo had stopped on his board and was standing over Yuma, who had just run right into an Obot, flipping him over onto his butt in a very uncomfortable landing.

"Y-yeah, I'm just fine." Yuma rubbed himself there and got back to his feet. "Dang Obot came out of nowhere." Yuma shook his fist at it, and of course it didn't care, it just went off looking for more trash to pick up.

"Not really." Tetsuo gestured at the wide open path they were on and how there were no corners that the Obot could have come around. "That's kind of why I didn't say anything, I figured you'd saw it coming."

"You were distracted." Yuma was about to snap at Astral for piping up when they weren't alone, but then he saw the spirit pointing, and following that finger Yuma saw a woman who, if you didn't look too closely, tilted your head and squinted, looked kind of maybe a little sort of like Akari.

"Eh, whatever!" Yuma set himself into position to run again. "Come on Tetsuo, or are you afraid I'm still going to win even with this handicap?"

"Hah, you're dreaming Yuma, but you're on!" So the two resumed their race, and even though Yuma saw plenty of ladies who had this or that or the other thing that was really vaguely similar to some feature of Akari's, he didn't stumble over his own two feet like some stupid baby, and sure, Tetsuo cleared the gate first, again, but that was okay, it showed that things were normal, showed that things were the way they always were, the way they were always going to be...

"Hey Yuma!" He came to a stop right in front of Kotori, goofy grin on his face like always. "So how's Akari? Did she tell you all about her big scoop?" Yuma's grin disappeared. "Oh, I'm sorry, I, I just assumed that..."

"It's okay, she's probably just late getting back, that's all." Yuma waved Kotori off. "She probably won't even have a clue that she's late when she does get back, you don't know how many times she's lost track of time with her nose buried in her work."

"Okay, you do know your sister better than anyone."

"You've got that right Kotori." Yuma crossed his arms. "So you know that when I say everything's okay, I know what I'm talking about." The bell rang, and the three ran off to class, where Yuma was kept good and busy.

* * *

When Yuma was in front of his home, he saw Grandma Haru standing there, not sweeping the steps or anything. She'd stood like that before, with that same long look on her face, five years ago. "Yuma, I called Akari's editor, and he doesn't know where she is or where she might be, he didn't hear anything about the lead she was following." Her voice was like the way it had been five years ago, only worse because she was doing it again.

Yuma felt his throat constrict. "S-so? That doesn't mean anything." His hands were getting clammy, just like when it all sank in five years ago.

"I'd like to hope so, but just in case, I've already filed a missing person's report with the police." Yuma's stomach knotted up. Grandma Haru sighed. "Please, come here Yuma."

"No." That's what he did last time, that's what he did five years ago, and this wasn't five years ago, it wasn't!

"Yuma!" He did like his Grandma Haru told him to, he walked up to her and let the old woman wrap him up in her arms. "I know you're upset Yuma."

"No I'm not." He mumbled into her shoulder.

She ignored him, pressed on with what she'd been saying before. "We'll get through this Yuma; I'm not going anywhere, and neither are you." She tightened her grip, she had the same smell as before, like sage. She never changed, Yuma had seen Akari grow up, graduate high school and go to college and get her job, but Grandma Haru had always been a little old lady right from the start. "And besides, Heartland City's big, but it's not that big; the police will come through for us."

Yeah, that's right, that was the one thing that was absolutely different from five years ago; Yuma's mom and dad had left Heartland City, but Akari hadn't. "Thanks Grandma, I think I'll be okay now." She let go of him, his stomach grumbled. "Um, could we have an early dinner?"

"Certainly Yuma." They went inside, Yuma helped his grandma make dinner, helped to eat it, and then went up to his room.

"Astral?"

"Yes?"

"We're going to go looking tomorrow, we're going to go all over town and the first Number you sense we're going after it, you got that?"

"Of course Yuma, but remember, if Akari's disappearance has nothing to do with the Numbers, there is nothing I can do about that."

"What do ya mean if the Numbers don't have anything to do with it?" Yuma's skin became tense. "What else could possibly be responsible?"

"A great many things Yuma; I have read many of the articles that your sister has written, many of which exposed uncomfortable truths about powerful individuals and organizations; it may well be that the tip Akari got was in fact a lure."

"Nuh uh, no way, not even freaking possible, Akari would never fall for something like that, she always checks her sources."

"Your denial does not change the fact that like you, she is human." Yuma gritted his teeth. "It is possible for her to err, to fail to exercise her regular caution in these matters."

"Fine, just for that, we're going to be out twice as long as I'd planned on!"

"I take it that that is meant to be a punishment, but I fail to see how that would work?"

"That's 'cause you just don't get it, but you will!"

"Yuma?" He froze up. "Is everything all right up there?"

"Y-yeah Grandma!" Yuma snapped his fingers. "I was just reading from a school assignment, got a little too into it, a ha ha ha."

"...All right, just keep it down and remember your bedtime."

"Right!" He listened and waited until Grandma Haru was gone. He pointed at Astral. "I'll deal with you later." Yuma turned off the lights, got into the hammock and clenched his eyes shut.

That was the end of the second day.

* * *

"In summation, are you completely lost Yuma?" Yuma had just gotten out of another blind alleyway when he saw Todoroki with a shopping bag from some electronics store.

"No, no, just, you know, looking for something." Yuma paused. "Hey, um, you haven't happened to have heard about anything weird happening lately? You know, like with..."

"Like with...Oh!" Todoroki clasped his hands. "Counting!" Yuma smiled. "Um, all the counting I've been seeing has been pretty normal, no weird sums in my homework." It took Yuma a moment to process that, figure out that he was after all talking about the Numbers. "I can, uh, I can keep my eyes out for you, let you know if I see anything or hear about anything, that, that takes creative counting."

"Thanks man." Yuma couldn't picture spending any real time with Todoroki, but after the whole thing with Mr. Ukyo, he knew he was an okay guy.

"It's no trouble at all Yuma...oh, forgive me Yuma!" Todoroki bowed down at the waist. "My condolences, and I hope the police are able to find Akari quickly and that nothing untoward has happened to her."

"Oh...you've heard about that?"

"Well, yes; In summation, Kotori was looking really down this morning and she told me about your sister's disappearance; in fact," Todoroki hefted his bag, "this is stuff to help Kotori look for any clues that might be somewhere on the net, maybe someone somewhere in the city might have seen her somewhere without realizing it."

"S-she's, Kotori's doing that?" He hadn't asked her to, he'd just told her what was going on when she'd called and said he was heading out.

"Yes, if I were to speculate, I'd say that Kotori regards Akari as the big sister she'd never had, so her drive to find her is likely as strong as yours...well, maybe not that strong, but..."

"It's okay, you just get that stuff to Kotori and maybe you'll get lucky."

"Yes, right away Yuma!" Todoroki saluted him and ran off; if the situation were normal, Yuma'd be thinking what a dweeb Todoroki was, but it wasn't normal, it wasn't normal at all.

"Shall we move on, Yuma?" Astral was looking off into the distance. "I have not sensed even a trace presence of any Numbers."

"Of course we will, we haven't found Akari yet." Yuma marched off, doing his level best to systematically go through the whole city.

"As I said before, it is increasingly likely that Akari's disappearance has nothing to do with the Numbers." Yuma glowered at him, got stares for that from the passers-by.

"Oh yeah? You really think someone went after Akari without the Number nudging them into doing it?" People could stare at Yuma all they wanted, he needed to explain the way things were to Astral.

"Because the Numbers do not push merely for the sake of the human's desire; the Numbers seek to be reunited, and will stop at nothing to achieve that goal. In their equation, what the human wants exists only to further that one true goal." Astral looked into Yuma's eyes, way too close for Yuma's comfort. "That is why, with each moment that passes without any challenge, I grow increasingly convinced that the Numbers are not involved with this." Astral looked back out into the city.

"Shows what you know, maybe one of them wants to use Akari's investigative skills to find the other Numbers then, did ya think of that? 'Cause Akari's got awards and accolades and all that junk 'cause of how good she is at her job you know."

"Yes, I reviewed those as well. And...perhaps that is possible. The only way to determine the truth is to continue to do what we're doing right now."

"You got that right." So Yuma kept going on, following his mental map and making sure not one stone was left unturned, even forcing the Obots open to see if they might have grabbed up a clue thinking it was trash.

"Yuma, it is time we returned to your home." Astral said the moment the streetlights started turning on. "It will do us no good if your Grandmother believes that you have missing as well."

Yuma grumbled, but he did like Astral said, he turned around and made his way back home, having only investigated a tiny portion of the whole city. "Welcome back dear." Grandma Haru was sweeping the porch, though she was slower than normal. "Dinner should be ready in just a minute."

"Thanks." She didn't ask, she didn't have to ask, he'd come back alone, alone as far as she could see, and that had told her everything she needed to know. Yuma went inside, Grandma Haru came in not long after. They ate in silence, the ticking clock far too loud for Yuma's ears, and after that he returned to his room.

His D-Gazer rang and he answered it. "Hey Yuma." It was Kotori

"Hey." She sounded sad, drained, exhausted.

"I've been looking everywhere I could on the net, checked all the boards and all the pictures people have posted, but nothing about Akari."

"I-it's okay Kotori, you don't need to do this."

"No, I want to Yuma, I care about Akari too, she, well, I, uh..."

"You think of her like a sister too, huh?" She gulped. "Todoroki said so; did any of his stuff help any?"

"Yeah, as much anything could have." She yawned. "Anyway, I was just calling to say goodnight, let you know that I'm going to keep looking tomorrow, and the day after until we find something."

"...Thanks Kotori."

"...You're welcome Yuma."

* * *

"Mom, Mom!" Yuma ran down the street and into his home, kicking the door open with his tiny little legs. "Look it Mom, I passed my test!" He held the paper over his head while his smile practically lit up the whole room.

"That's wonderful Yuma!" When she was looking away, she was his mom, but when she turned around, she had his sister's face.

Yuma woke up gasping for breath. He sat up in his hammock, grabbed his chest, and bit his lip as he felt the tears well up. The clock clicked just past midnight.

That was the end of the third day.

* * *

"Hey Yuma." When Yuma came downstairs, he saw Tetsuo and Tetsuko down there with his Grandma. "You holding up okay?" Tetsuo had a very not-Tetsuo look on his face, it was the same as...

"Y-yeah, I guess." He yawned, he had big rings under his eyes, but he was moving, he was going to keep moving. "I, I'll see you later..."

"Hold on a second there." Tetsuko grabbed his shoulders. "Your my best friend's little brother, there's no way I'm letting you run off the way you are now." Yuma glanced at Astral, and even he nodded along. "Now come on, your Grandma made you a delicious breakfast, eat that at least, got to get down what you can."

It was good, it really was, and Yuma wished he could eat it faster so he could get out from under Tetsuko's thumb, but his stomach...

"I leaned in on Tokunosuke." Tetsuo said. "Figured if anyone would have any connections with any creeps who would do something like this, he would." Tetsuo groaned. "The creep said he hadn't heard anything about her, but I'll be trying again today, and making sure he understands that he better not be holding back on anything."

"Thanks." Yuma ate faster. No one else was eating, just him. He got down what he could, his stomach quieted down. "I, I mean it Tetsuo, thanks a lot."

"Hey, if anything happened to me, you'd be doing the same for Tetsuo." Tetsuko jabbed her thumb at her collar bone. "And of course, you're going to make sure to tell me the moment you find out anything, right? 'Cause whoever is behind this, they're in for a major asskicking." Grandma Haru whapped her on the back of the head. "I mean, a big butt whooping?"

"That's better dear." Her hand, it looked so... "Just remember the most important thing is Akari's safety, you find any clues and the first people you contact are the police, do you understand?"

"Yes." Even now, she still brought the iron to her voice. Yuma got up, pushed his chair in.

Tetsuo did the same. "I'll stick with you for a while, until I've got to get to Tokunosuke." Yuma nodded and they left together. Luckily enough, Yuma was looking around in the area around the mall, so he and Tetsuo were able to stay together.

"Tetsuo?" He'd stopped, looked down at the riceball that Grandma Haru had sneaked into his pack when he hadn't been looking. "Is...is it okay if I come with you, to talk to Tokunosuke?"

Tetsuo's face was scrunched up as he thought about it. "Just this once, he's not going to like talking to someone like you, but I'll make him make an exception for you."

"Thank you." Yuma saw the look that Astral gave him, it was a weird look; half of him was being all 'we should be focusing on the Numbers' and the other half was like 'good, you're accepting this has nothing to do with the Numbers'; maybe it was just because of the way that half his body was lit up and hard to see, Yuma didn't know and really couldn't be bothered to put that much thought into something that unimportant.

* * *

"Welcome, Tetsuo." Tokunosuke, or at least that's who Yuma figured the little shrimp behind the desk was, said as they stepped in. "Now, my first question is why you think you can bring in a goody two-shoes in here and expect to get anywhere."

"Because this is Yuma Tsukumo, Akari Tsukumo's little sister, and if you don't do what he says the way he says it, he's going to be spilling all the dirt that Akari's got on your little operation here and then where are you gonna be?"

Yuma stared at Tetsuo. Tokunosuke snickered. "Oh come on, like I'm going to fall for a bluff like that? You should have left him outside, the little drip's got the worst poker face in the history of ever." He made shooing motions with his hand. "Now go on, get out of here and hide behind your granny like a good little boy."

Tetsuo raised his fist, Tokunosuke flinched, but Yuma put his hand on Tetsuo's. "It's okay." Yuma stepped forward up to Tokunosuke's desk. "Just, do you have any family?"

"Um...yes?" He paused, he had to think about it. "What does that..."

"If anything happened to them, you'd do anything you could to help them, anything at all, right?"

"...I suppose..." Tokunosuke was looking down at his desk.

"I'm trying everything I can to find my sister, but I haven't found even a single clue, and it's just..." Yuma stopped, took a deep breath. "You know things no one else knows, you know what's going on in the underground, that's what Tetsuo says, so if someone from there had anything to do with..."

"Okay, okay, I give!" Tokunosuke cried out, and turned away, wiping furiously at his face. "I'll shelve everything else and call in every favor I've got, just stop making that face at me!"

"Eh?" Yuma looked at a reflective surface, a window pane, and he just looked absolutely awful, wretched. "S-sorry about that." How long had his face been like that?

"No, no, it's fine, just...I am still gonna have to charge you, but that can wait until after I've finished up here, I'll call you up when I'm done."

"Heh, I guess even a little troll like you's still human." Tetsuo said, and Yuma shot him a dirty look. "I mean, you'll get your money, no need to worry about that."

"Good, now get outta here ya jerks, I've got a reputation to keep and you're not doing it any favors." So Yuma and Tetsuo left and walked away without any particular destination in mind. Then Astral pointed this way and that, so Yuma followed, hopes rising and falling with every corner, every nook and cranny that they explored.

"Yuma." Tokunosuke's voice sounded from Yuma's D-Gazer; the day was almost over, they were going to have to turn back before long. "Like I said, I called in every favor, brought in every source I had and...at least I'm not going to charge anything, so that's some good news, right?"

Yuma fell down where he stood. "Not even one clue? Not even one thing that might be her?"

"I make sure my info's good, I'm not going to sell you rotten goods."

"I don't care how rotten they are!" Yuma's voice cracked. "There's got to be something, we've been looking everywhere, not just you and me and Tetsuo, but the police and Kotori too, we've all been looking, there's got to be something and I don't care how farfetched it might be, if there's even the tiniest chance it might be connected to Akari..."

"There's no chance Yuma; I checked even the flimsiest tip, the most meager lead, there wasn't a single stone I hadn't flipped over at least three times, so when I say I have nothing to sell you, nothing to give you, I mean it." He'd...Tokunosuke, he'd worked that hard, and he'd found nothing? The guy who'd figured out where the people who'd robbed Tetsuo's house were, and he couldn't find Akari?

"All right." Yuma stood back up, shook in place. "Thank you, and you're right, it is good news that you're not charging, isn't it?" Yuma turned his D-Gazer off. He turned back without saying a word.

"I'll stay out for a little longer, just in case."

"Thank you, Tetsuo."

* * *

Yuma stared at the artifacts his parents had found and brought home with them. "Astral." The spirit floated at his side, looking over him. "We're going to find her, right? I mean, no matter what, she's got to be somewhere in Heartland City, right? It's...it's not like she could have just disappeared into thin air right? She's got to be somewhere we can find her, we just haven't figured out where that might be, right?"

"Yuma, I can't give you the answers you want or need." Astral looked down. "I simply do not know."

That was the end of the fourth day.

* * *

"Pay attention Yuma!" The gym teacher shouted as Yuma got smacked in the face with yet another dodge-ball. "You're not going to improve your reflexes by zoning out all the time!"

"Right." Yuma said in a very small voice. Teachers had been yelling at him all day for not paying attention, not answering when called upon, not turning homework or tests when they were called for, staying in his seat even after the bell rang...

"Leave him alone!" Kotori yelled from the other side of the gym, her voice cutting through the noise effortlessly. The teacher looked at her, met her glare, and fell before it.

"Right...just do your best Yuma." Yep, that had been how the whole day had been going, ever since Grandma Haru got him up out of bed; he'd kept zoning out, kept not paying attention, and Tetsuo and Kotori had been covering for him the whole way. Every subject, every step of the way, they refused to let anyone give him any grief.

It wasn't that he was ungrateful, it was just...it wasn't bringing Akari back, was it? Doing math, doing English, doing Gym, even eating lunch, how was any of it bringing Akari back? How was any of it getting them any closer to figuring out where she was, finding her, and...

The bell rang. "All right, dismissed everyone!" Yuma zoned his way through the showers, put his school uniform back on and...what was next? What was he supposed to do next? Was it time for him to go back into the city and look more, with Astral? It had to be a Number, right? A Number was the only thing that could cover its tracks so well, right?

"Yuma." He felt Kotori's hand on his shoulder; that normally helped him to calm down, but the problem wasn't that his emotions were out of control, it wasn't that he was getting too hot headed. "I'm still looking, I haven't given up yet, someone might see something, or someone might log in for the first time in days and see one of my posts and..."

"I know." Yuma tried to smile for her, got one corner of his mouth to rise up a smidgen. Tetsuo joined them.

"You'll get over it." They all looked over at Shark. "You'll accept what happened, and you'll move on from it, stronger for it."

"Hey, no one was asking Shark!" Tetsuo shook his fist at him.

"It needs saying though; you two are coddling him, and the longer you keep that up, the worse it'll be when you can't protect him from the truth."

"Shark..." Yuma felt Kotori's hand slip away as he stepped towards him. "Thank you, I know you mean well, I know you're trying to help..." Yuma remembered, he remembered what Rio had said, about hers and Shark's parents, how they'd died a long time ago... "I'm going to go to the police station." They'd know, they could tell him exactly the progress they were making, they'd know things that no one, not Tokunosuke, not even Kotori could ever know, and it'd been so long, they'd have to tell him, they'd have to let him know just how close they were to a break in the case, they'd just have to!

* * *

"Well? How close are you guys to finding my sister? How close are you to tracking down whoever kidnapped Akari?" Yuma talked to the woman behind the counter, a big woman with a couple of missing teeth and frazzled hair. "Come on, you can tell me, I won't spill anything, I just want to know when I can see her again."

The police woman looked at him a long time, let out a long sigh. "Kid, we're going to keep looking, we're not giving up, we never do, I'm not saying there can't be a miracle, but I've got to be honest with you; the fact is that if someone's been missing this long, without any clues or leads or anything like that, odds are that, well..."

"No..." Yuma shook his head. "You're lying." His head wasn't hot at all, his hands weren't shaking, he wasn't doing anything. "You're lying, why are you lying to me? You can't...you can't just go and say...she's not!" Yuma didn't stamp his foot, he didn't yell in the police woman's face. "You're wrong! Wrong! When she gets back, when we find her, you're going to be in real trouble for lying to me!"

"Young man, I know this is difficult for you to hear...get back here!" Yuma ran out, he ran out from the police station, he ran down the street, he ran and ran and ran until his legs had burned themselves out and he fell down and he curled up into a ball, chest heaving as he struggled for breath, throat hoarse and lungs ablaze, stomach wrenching on itself and trying to squeeze everything up while the Obots just rolled around him...

"Y-yuma?" A limo had pulled up by where Yuma had collapsed, Fuya Okudaira came out of it. "Yuma, what happened to you? Are you all right?" Yuma didn't respond. "Yuma, did someone hurt you?" Fuya took hold of Yuma's shoulders.

"Yuma!" Kotori and Tetsuo had caught up. "Yuma..." He felt Kotori wrapping herself around him, like she was trying to be a blanket or something.

"You're Fuya huh? Don't worry, we'll take care of Yuma, just leave it to us."

Fuya shook his head. "There's room, I can give you all a lift home." So they picked Yuma up and carried him in, laid him across the seats; they were very nice seats, very comfortable, very easy to rest on, not sleep, just rest.

"The poor thing." It was Fuya's mom, she wasn't his mom, but she was a mom.

"So, it's true then, about Yuma's sister?" Kotori and Tetsuo nodded. "I saw your inquiries online Kotori, and I was sure that someone would have said something by now."

"They still might."

"You can't count out a miracle after all."

"Yes, you're right; tomorrow, I'm going to go on air and talk to people, make sure everyone is aware and looking."

"And I will make sure that our network gives us a good slot so that as many people as possible hear you my son."

"Thank you." Yuma said in a constrained whisper that everyone heard.

After a while, they arrived at Yuma's home. "Are you sure you wouldn't rather we take you back to your own homes?" Kotori and Tetsuo shook their heads. "Okay then, you'll see me on TV tomorrow, so make sure you watch, and pray I do a good job."

"We will." They bowed, and after Fuya's limo left, they went inside Yuma's home.

"Yuma." Grandma Haru was quiet as she slowly worked her way to them. "Thank you, Kotori, Tetsuo, Yuma could really use you two right now."

"You're welcome Granny Haru." Tetsuo said.

"We know Yuma would do the same for us." Kotori said.

They talked things out with Grandma Haru, Tetsuo would stay in what was supposed to be Yuma's room save for how he lived in the attic, and Kotori would use Akari's room.

"Astral?" Yuma asked when he was up in his room again, alone again with the spirit. "When am I going to wake up?" He looked at the spirit with sunken in eyes. "I'm going to wake up right? 'Cause this, this has just gotta be a dream, it's just got to be..."

Astral studied Yuma, and reached out to him. His hand passed through the boy.

That was the end of the fifth day.

* * *

"Mom!" Kotori said, and yep, Kotori's mom was there; Akari used to tease him about Kotori growing up to look like her. If Akari were to burst in through that door and shove him and Kotori together while teasing them mercilessly in front of Kotori's mom, revealing that the whole thing had just been a giant prank leading up to this moment, Yuma would never stop smiling, not ever.

"Hello darling." Kotori's mom gave Kotori a hug. "Hello Tetsuo." She gave Tetsuo a hug too, not as long a one as she did with Kotori. "Yuma..." She took hold of him, held him in her arms and drew him into her bosom. It had been over five years since he'd been hugged like that. "I've taken the day off today, so I can spend the whole day making sure you're okay." Right, he was Kotori's best friend, so Kotori's mom was always really attentive whenever he saw her. It was kind of weird, but Yuma had no impulse to resist anymore.

"But, what about school?" Tetsuo said, watching with a hint of envy.

"If you think school's going to do this poor boy any good in his condition..." She hefted Yuma up in her arms, she was really strong. "As for you two, you're still going; seeing that life still goes on will help Yuma recover, and that means going to school same as always."

"Okay Mom." Kotori walked up and hugged Yuma, squishing him between two generations. Then Tetsuo groaned and joined in, and then Yuma's grandma was on the other side. It was all so warm and soft, Yuma almost fell back to sleep. "We'll come right back after school Yuma, okay?"

"Okay." Yuma mumbled, and Kotori's mom put him back down, led him and the others to the front door where Yuma waved goodbye to his friends and saw them go around the corner and out of sight.

"Thank you so much for doing this." Grandma Haru said. "It means so much for the both of us."

"It's no trouble at all, Grandma Haru; I just wish I could have been here sooner, but you know how it is with the office, getting time off is like pulling teeth." She looked down at Yuma. "So tell me Yuma, what would you like to do today?"

"...I don't know." He looked down at his feet, shuffled them in place. "I, I just want..."

She was hugging him again. "I understand; why don't I tell you a story? You're not too old for that, are you?"

"...Okay." Yuma nodded. He walked with her into the living room where they sat down together on the couch. Yuma leaned against her shoulder, the way he'd done more than five years ago. "It's gonna be a happy story, right?"

"Of course, every story's a happy story, you just need to get to the happy ending." She rubbed Yuma's head. "And this story has a very happy ending." Kotori's mom cleared her throat. "A long time ago, way before you were born, way before anyone even dreamed of a place like Heartland City, there was a little girl in a tiny little village somewhere out in the big wide open countryside. Her village was a poor one, no one had much of anything at all, you had to eat the same things day after day and there weren't any new toys or electronics, once something ran out of power that was it, it couldn't ever be used again. But the little girl did her best, she did her best for her family and her friends, she did her best to help with the crops and the fishing, she did her best to make every little bit count, save everything she could so that one day she could pass them on to her kids, and them to theirs."

"But one day, a strange woman no one had ever seen before showed up in the village, and she said she could change things, but it would take everyone's help to make it happen, and no one was sure what to do; everyone was needed to work in the fields and the river, there was no one to spare for a dream, there were even people saying the strange woman wasn't even real, that they were all just dreaming and if they listened to her they'd never wake up. But that little girl, she knew, she just knew that the woman's promise was real, that if they all listened and pitched in and did their best, they'd be able to do what she'd said they could, and live a whole new life. So the little girl stood up and asked everyone to just try, even if just for a little while, and they listened, for she spoke with the hope and sincerity of a child, and they worked together, and things got tough for a while and lots of people's stomachs grumbled, but then, then they did it; they'd built a Momentum Generator, and once it got started, once it started giving them power, everything changed."

"People didn't have to spend all their time scraping by, rationing food and meticulously planning everything out to make sure there would be enough for tomorrow; before long, people were enjoying themselves, and that little girl was able to play for the first time in her life, play freely without having to worry about when she needed to stop and go back to the fields. And one day the mysterious woman left, for there were lots of other villages that needed her help, and so one day, when that little girl was all grown up, a man came from a village that the mysterious woman had helped, and they could tell that they'd both been the same, they both spoke on her behalf to help their families and friends and loved ones, and so they got married, and had kids who would grow up without having to know the struggle that their parents had to know."

"That was, just after Zero Reverse, right?" Kotori's mom nodded. "And that little girl, she was, was she your mom?"

"Actually, she was my grandmother, but she passed the story onto her children, and them to theirs." She took hold of Yuma again. "You feel like your whole world is coming to an end and you don't know what to do, you don't know that you can do anything, that there's anything to be done." Yuma nodded. "One day, things are going to change for you again, and you'll have your world back; it won't be the same as before, but it'll be one you can be happy in. Do you understand Yuma." He gave a small nod. "You'll see, just hang in there Yuma."

They just sat there for a while, and then Yuma's D-Gazer beeped in his pocket. He took it out, saw the message on it, and turned the TV on, changed to the channel for Fuya's broadcast. "People of Heartland City, I am Fuya Okudaira, star of Different Dimension Esper Star Robin, and I have a very important message for you all." He brought out a big picture of Akari. "This is Akari Tsukumo, a reporter and older sister to a very good friend of mine, and she went missing five days ago. So far, no clues have been found, but just like in my show, we can't give up hope! I beseech you all, if you know anything at all, if you find any clues, catch even the slightest glimpse, please, please come forward...my friend is hurting, and I want to help him, but even heroes can't do everything on their own."

Then Fuya's mother stepped out onto the camera. "We here at the station are prepared to offer a reward for anyone who's information leads to the discovery of this special young woman, so please, call in and do your part, for the sooner this nightmare ends, the better. Thank you."

"Here." Yuma looked up from the screen at Kotori's mom, she was handing him a hanky; his cheeks were soaked and his nose was running. He took it, wiped his face off and blew into it, a loud ugly honking sound.

"Thank you." Yuma felt himself drop onto Kotori's mom's lap, and he had no idea how long he stayed there as he got the first decent sleep in what felt like a very, very, very, very long time.

That was the end of the sixth day.

* * *

Yuma got up on his own. He ate his breakfast. He got dressed. He went to school. He did his schoolwork. He ate his lunch. He answered the questions people asked him. He went home. There was a package from Izumi and Chinira, a gift, a free game with a note to hang in there and not to give up. He did his chores, long overdue. He was in his room again. He looked out the window, they were only a couple hours away from sunset. "Astral..." How was he supposed to say it? How was he supposed to think it? Was this how it was going to be for the rest of his life?

"Yuma, your D-Gazer is beeping." Oh, it was, wasn't it? It was probably Kotori, or someone wanting to cheer him up, he'd gotten those a couple times already.

"Hello?" Yuma answered.

"Yuma Tsukumo." Who was that? That voice, he'd heard it before.

"Yes?"

"If you ever wish to see your sister again, if you wish to see Akari Tsukumo again, you will come to this location immediately." Yuma froze as the AR directions overlayed themselves over his vision, guiding him to an old park at the top of a really tall hill.

"Who is this? Who are you!?" Yuma shouted, he knew the voice, he'd heard it before, he'd heard it lots of times before.

"You will find out when you arrive." It was the voice from his dream, the one that formed the contract with him, the one responsible for everything, everything, everything!

"Astral, we're going." He grabbed his D-Pad and packed it away. He ground his teeth as he jumped down from the attic to the ground floor. He ran out the door without saying anything, no thought to his Grandma, no thought to anyone or anything at all. Yuma clenched his fists so tight his fingernails dug into his skin. "We're going to crush whoever it is, we're not going to let them get away with this, not now and not ever!"


	7. Chapter 7

Power

* * *

"Almost there...almost there..." Yuma was running up the hill, a steep hill with the sun at his back, clouds scattered across the sky. "Akari...Akari..." All this time, all this time, he didn't know where she was, and now he was going to know, because he was going to find her, he wsa going to get her back, everything was going to go back to normal!

"Yuma, you have to calm down." Astral was gliding along the ground, and Yuma scowled at him. "Whoever it is waited all this time to contact you; they planned for you to be in this emotional state and thus this fury can only serve whatever purpose they have in mind."

"I don't care!" Yuma was grabbing at the ground to go even faster as he ran up what felt like a mud wall, "How, how do you think Akari is feeling? You haven't even thought about that, have you? You don't know what she's been through, you don't know how scared and worried she's been this whole time, and you want me to forget all that?" Yuma shook his head. "If you're right, and they did this to make me mad, then you're just going to have to deal with that!"

"It would not be the first time that I've done so." The top of the hill was in reach. "Nor do I believe that this will be the last time." Yuma paused. "You are stubborn and forceful and prone to rash action and being controlled by your emotions, believing things about the world and your role in it that have little to no basis in fact; in fact, you are rather like one who has been possessed by the Numbers now that I have expressed my thoughts in this manner." Yuma scowled at Astral. "But there is that saying, isn't there? Fighting fire with fire? Indeed, your passion and drive, and determination to take responsibility have proven critical in not merely defeating the Numbers, but in helping those who have been harmed by them. Your strengths and flaws, coupled together as they are, seem to me exactly what we need, and I will do what I can to compensate you your weakness as you do mine." Astral passed his hand through Yuma's.

"...I know, I know you're just trying to help, but, I just..." Yuma closed his eyes, saw what he'd always been seeing every time he'd closed his eyes for the past week. He opened his eyes. "I can't not feel this way, I just can't, I can't do that no matter what, not until I know Akari's going to be okay again."

"I understand, and will be patient accordingly."

Yuma took a deep breath and crested the hill. "What?" There was no one there, just an old overgrown path and some abandoned playground equipment, all bathed golden in the orange light of the sunset. Not even the Obots had been here in a long long time. "You gotta be..." Yuma ran out into the middle of the hill, the peak from which he could see everything. "I'm here, so where are you!?"

"I am here as well, Yuma Tsukumo." He heard the voice, clearer than all the times he'd ever heard it before, a deep and resonant female voice; he turned around and saw a woman standing there, a woman who hadn't been there before, and there was nowhere she could have been hiding. She was bald, her skin was pitch-black and seemed to consume the light from the setting sun, and that light showed itself in her golden eyes. She was dressed in a white robe that covered her body while leaving her arms free. "So, even after all you have been through, you have found the strength to come here; good." She stepped forward, heavy gold earrings and bracelets jangling.

"H-hey!" Yuma stepped back. "You, you're the one who kidnapped Akari, you're the one who kept showing up in my dream aren't you?" She stopped. "You are, aren't you? You're the one responsible for everything, the Numbers being let loose and causing all this trouble for everyone, right?"

"I had my role in this, yes, but it was by your hand that they were released; desire alone achieves nothing, only you were in position to make use of your desire, your desire to have your treasure restored and your dreams fulfilled."

"But you didn't tell me all this was going to happen, you just said I'd face some...ordeals or whatever!"

"And that is what you have been presented with, Yuma Tsukumo; that at the time you did not spare any thought to what those ordeals might have consisted of, that you had assumed that your challenges would be trivial and threaten nothing, that was your error and yours alone."

"Don't try to say this is my fault! You knew the truth, and you kept it back, and now you've kidnapped Akari! Who do you think you are?!"

The black woman raised her hand. "I am Nubiti." Golden light spiraled around her arm, and then it flashed, and there was, it wasn't a D-Pad, but it looked a lot like one, shaped like a flower...a lotus? "If you wish to see your sister again, there is but one path available to you." A deck appeared in her other hand, and she put it into what had to be the deck slot.

"You got it!" Yuma armed his D-Pad and set up his D-Gazer...and then realized she wasn't wearing one.

"Connection established." Huh? How was that...what was it even...no, Yuma realized that wasn't what mattered, that was the least important thing in the entire world, there was only one thing that mattered, everything else was just a speck to him. "Duel start."

"As I am the one who began this battle, as I am the one who initiated this conflict, I will accordingly take the first turn." Nubiti drew her card in a wide sweeping motion that set off a musical jangle of jewels. "I set one card and summon Hieroglypic Dragon – Dragon Nut." A stone slab appeared in the air with a picture of a humanoid dragon carved onto it. Golden energy filled the lines of the carving, and then a real dragon appeared...well, as real as these things got, with blue-white scales, golden armor, and wings of light and 1700 attack points.

"What is this?" Astral floated back and away from Nubiti's monster. "This power, it is akin to my own."

"Only a shadow of your true power, Astral." Nubiti said as she looked right into Astral's eyes.

"...You can see Astral?!" Yuma looked from Nubiti to Astral to Nubiti again, and now Nubiti's eyes were on him.

"We formed the contract together, Yuma Tsukumo; just as you were granted the ability to see Astral so that you could fulfill your end, I have that power so as to fulfill mine."

"Fine, that just means you'll be seeing both of us beating you into the ground instead of just me, so fine by me!"

"Then take your turn and show me the power that you have achived at this point."

"Turn 2, Yuma Tsukumo: 4000 life points, Nubiti: 4000 life points."

"Oh, you got it!" Yuma drew his card and looked over his hand; yes, he was going to do a ton of damage this way!

"I now activate my permanent trap card, Hieroglyphic Seal of Revival." The sun was on the edge of the horizon now, and a strange seal appeared in the air above Nubiti, transparent and tinted the same gold as everything else was. "Once per turn during my opponent's turn, I send a Hieroglyphic Dragon from my deck to the grave; in this manner my legacy is secured, ready for me to draw upon in the future." A card in the middle of Nubiti's deck glowed and flew out, trailing light behind it before entering her grave.

"A-Astral, she's got a Number, right? That's how she did that, right?" Astral shook his head. "Seriously?"

"Always, Yuma." He turned to Nubiti. "Would I be correct in surmising that this is the same power that you used to contact Yuma in his dreams in order to form the contract?" Astral narrowed his eyes. "That is, this display is nothing more than an illusion?"

Nubiti smiled. "You are correct, Astral; this power is only a shadow of the true power that will be released when all the Numbers are gathered, but it is enough for me to fulfill my role, to do what is necessary to ensure that the contract is fulfilled properly."

"Properly?!" Yuma snapped. "What, are you mad that I'm not spending every waking moment of my life going after the Numbers? Well too bad, you're just to sit back and wait, and besides, you gave me a year remember? I've still got lots of time left to get them all!"

"It is the privilege of youth to think that a year is any time at all, that it is more then a pebble in the vast desert of human history." The wind picked up around them. "But no, that is not why I am here; I had planned this ordeal for you from the outset, from before you had agreed to the contract."

Yuma's scowl engraved itself onto his face. "So you were always planning to kidnap Akari, is that it?" Yuma clenched his fist. "Well then, I hope you planned on how badly I'm going to beat you down this turn! I summon Gagaga Magician and activate its effect to increase its level to 8, so when I equip it with Bound Wand it's attack power will rise to 2300!" The air crackled around Yuma's monster.

"Yes, now we can attack and..."

"And that's not all! I activate the spell card Level Hammer!" A huge mallet that took two hands appeared before Gagaga Magician. "When I have a monster that's higher level than all of yours, I target one monster and reduce its attack power by 200 times the difference in level until the end of the turn; Gagaga is 8, Nut is 4, so that means you're losing 800 attack points."

"Yuma!" Astral watched as Level Hammer lit up with 8 stars, and when Gagaga Magician swung it into Hieroglyphic Dragon – Dragon Nut, it lost four of them. "You had already exceeded her attack power, why did you do that?"

"Because now we're going to do an extra 800 damage!"

"And because of your foolish action, I now activate Dragon Nut's effect." Nubiti's monster held out a claw, and hieroglyphs streamed out from it. "When targeted by a card effect, my monster special summons a Normal Dragon monster from the hand, deck, or grave with zero attack and defense." The hieroglyphs arranged themselves onto the ground, forming a pattern, a message. "Furthermore, when Hieroglyphic Seal of the Dragon King is in the grave or on the field, it is treated as a Normal Monster and thus is a valid target for this effect." A sound like a bell, and an egg shaped orb with silver lining arose up from the hieroglyphs, floating in the air with zero defense power.

"Argh, who cares? That can't do a thing to stop my attack! Gagaga Magician, attack and destroy Hieroglyphic Dragon – Dragon Nut!" Yuma's monster charged its fist with dark crackling energy and launched itself at Nubiti's monster; still reeling from the earlier blow from Level Hammer, Hieroglyphic Dragon – Dragon Nut could do nothing as Gagaga Magician punched right through its chest for 1400 points of damage.

"Yuma, that was exceedingly foolish." Astral glared at Yuma.

"Oh come on, you mean I should have given up all that damage just to destroy her stupid zero defense Normal Monster?"

"While it is presently being treated as a normal monster, it is in fact an effect monster, one that had zero attack and defense to begin with, and it is a level six monster besides." Astral paused. "Furthermore, there is something inside of it, something dangerous."

"C-come on Astral, it's just a card, it's just a picture and images and..." Yuma's voice tapered off.

"And it is one that I have painstakingly chosen; you had the power to destroy it Yuma, and you wasted your chance in a bout of blind anger. If you are to fulfill the terms of the contract, you must have better control over your power."

"Oh yeah? Well, why don't you just go ahead and show me what you're going to do with that monster if you think it's so great." Yuma threw his arms down. "I end my turn!"

"Turn 3, Yuma Tsukumo: 4000 life points, Nubiti: 2600 life points."

"Very well Yuma." Nubiti drew her card. "I will expend my normal summon to release the Hieroglyphic Seal of the Dragon King's true power." The silver lines on that egg-like thing glowed. "Now, I may sacrifice this monster to special summon in defense position any Hieroglyphic Dragon of my choice from my hand, deck, or grave; come forth, Hierglyphic Dragon – Shiyu Dragon!" The seal unfolded, and the new monster appeared; like Dragon Nut it's scales were blue-white, and it was clad in gold armor with wings of light, but this one was shaped more like a snake, and it had 2200 attack points...

"But that's in defense, it can't attack." Yuma said, gulping; he saw the look on Astral's face, he saw the look in Nubiti's eyes, they both knew this, but something else was going on now.

"That is not why I'd summoned, that was not its purpose in this duel, it's purpose is to clear my path for that which will follow in the wake of its sacrifice; I now activate its effect and sacrifice a Hieroglyphic Dragon on the field or in my hand to destroy one spell or trap card you control." Another stone tablet appeared, this one in front of Shiyu Dragon and depicting a purple dragon a lot like it.

"From the hand, a unique method of utilizing one's monsters." Astral brought his hand to his chin. "As I feared, she will be a most dangerous opponent for us."

"I now sacrifice Hieroglyphic Dragon – Aset Dragon in my hand to destroy Bound Wand, and upon being sacrificed Aset Dragon's effect activates, allowing me to special summon Seal of the Dragon King back from the grave."

Yuma watched as Shiyu Dragon breathed a burning light onto Bound Wand, destroying it and dropping Gagaga Magician's attack power back down to 1500, and now he couldn't use its effect to bring Gagaga Magician back either. Then the Seal of the Dragon King returned, and there was a soft hum of power emanating from it. "Oh man, you keep sacrificing your monsters, but you never seem to run out."

"Countless were the sacrifices that were made that were made to bring me to this point, countless were the losses suffered and the indignities swallowed in preparation for this day, and I will honor every sacrifice and draw strength from over three thousand years of humiliation." Nubiti thrust her arm out. "Now, I have two level six monsters on the field; thus, I overlay the two of them together." Hieroglyphic Seal of the Dragon King cracked open and a golden light rushed out, consuming Shiyu Dragon's own golden light. "Though only a shadow, a memory of a story passed down through the ages, the power of its forbidden name leaves its enemies trembling before it." The crimson spiral released its energy. "Descend upon this world of mortals, Exceed Summon, Hieroglyphic Dragon King, Atumus!"

Yuma didn't see it at first, the sun had fallen below the horizon, night had fallen upon them; then he thought he saw golden armor encasing the night sky, only to realize that the dragon's scales and its wings were the color of the night, void of stars with 2400 attack points. It growled as it looked down upon him, and Yuma felt himself shaking all over. "Brace yourself Yuma." Astral said, a tremor in his voice. "This will only be a taste of that being's true power."

Seeing Astral be like that, being the same way he was being, Yuma held his arms out over his body. "Atumus, attack and destroy Gagaga Magician." Nubiti's monster brought its arms together and swept them out, releasing a pressure wave the cut right through Gagaga Magician and slammed into Yuma, knocking the breath right out of him as he fell onto his back. "If you are not able to defeat this monster on your next turn, you will witness its true power." Yuma rose back up to his feet. "I set one card and end my turn."

"Turn 4, Yuma Tsukumo: 3100 life points, Nubiti: 2600 life points."

Yuma drew his card, and watched Nubiti's Hieroglyphic Seal of Revival send another Hieroglyphic Seal of the Dragon King from Nubiti's deck to the grave. "Yuma, let me guide your hand."

"Yeah, okay Astral." That hit...it was different even from all the hits he'd taken from the Numbers before, he wasn't going through that again. "I activate Gagagarevenge to special summon Gagaga Magician back from the grave and equip it to my monster." Now he had to...okay, Astral was showing him seven fingers. "I activate Gagaga Magician's effect and set its level to 7, and then I summon Gagaga Girl and activate her effect to set her level to be the same as Gagaga Magician's!" Master and student stood side by side, and level 7, yes, he could summon that one! "I overlay both my monsters to Exceed Summon Number Number 74 Blade Master with an additional 300 attack points!" Yuma's monster grinned as its eyes were veiled and Gagagarevenge's power infused it. "Then, Gagaga Girl's effect activates, and reduces Atumus's attack power to zero!"

Atumus withered and sank within its own body under the curse cast by Gagaga Girl. "That Number, you did not earn that one through your own power." She glared at it, making it flinch.

"Huh?" Yuma pointed at Nubiti. "H-hey, have you been spying on me or something like that?"

"It is all part of enforcing the contract Yuma; through the Emperor's Key I have been aware of everything you've done and everything that has happened around you. In this manner, I know that you had another acquire that Number for you."

"What, no, that's not what I did, Rio did that on her own, she was trying to protect her brother! And besides, it was Astral's idea, he wanted to see if she could have gotten the Number safely or not."

"And you were willing to accept that risk?" Nubiti narrowed her eyes. "You were willing to accept the potential danger to her soul to make things easier for yourself...hmph, it would seem that you have far less ground to judge me than you'd realized."

"You...how dare you! You've been doing nothing but lying and deceiving and using me and you want to say that I'm like you? Well you can just stuff it into an Obot for all I care, I'm going to kick your ass! Master of Blades, attack and destroy Atumus and show her that we're gonna see Akari again!" Yuma's monster summoned a dozen knives and started juggling them.

"I activate my trap card, Hieroglyphic Seal of Obliteration, sacrificing Atumus as cost to target Number 74 and banish it." A seal appeared before Atumus, and it flew through it, vanishing into nothingness.

"Ha, you weren't paying attention after all, 'cause now I get to activate Number 74's effect and detach Gagaga Magician to negate and destroy Seal of Obliteration, and then I get to destroy another card to boot!" One knife pierced through Seal of Obliteration, creating an explosion of light.

"How strange, she should have known that wouldn't have worked, that it wouldn't have improved her situation at all." Yeah, there wasn't any difference between attacking a zero attack power monster and a direct attack. "Yuma, be careful, she knew this would happen, she'd planned on it."

"Oh yeah?" There was only one card on Nubiti's field...that had to be it! "Number 74, destroy Hieroglyphic Seal of Revival and then attack directly!" Yes! A second explosion joined the first, kicking up dust all over the place, and then Yuma's monster dived into that to strike right into Nubiti's heart.

"Once again Yuma, you failed to make proper use of your power." Nubiti spoke, and the dust settled, revealing Atumus back on the field, in defense position?! "When sent from the field to the grave, Hieroglyphic Seal of Revival's other effect activates, spcieal summoning a Hieroglyphic Dragon from the grave, so instead of defeating me this turn, you have instead dealt no damage at all." Master of Blades threw all its knives into Atumus, slaying it while leaving Nubiti untouched. "My lineage has endured far worse than this, and has risen from the ashes every time."

"Your lineage, your legacy, your knowledge and power..." Astral muttered. "I am going to speak directly and to the point Nubiti; you are descended from the ones that created me and the Emperor's Key." Nubiti nodded. "Then I will ask, what became of my creator, my mother? What was her hope and dream for me?"

"All I know are stories, chipped and broken carvings on stone tablets and half-remembered fables passed down by mouth; it is only in you, only when all the Numbers are gathered and your true existence achieved, only then will the truth of this legacy be achieved, but this I know for certain; your power can is necessary to save this world, and all that depends on him."

"Me?" Yuma gulped. "Whoa, hold on, you said, you said back in my dream, that if I did what I was supposed to have done, passed all your stupid tests and ordeals, that I'd get to have my dreams come true."

"And is the world in your dreams not far far larger than the one you know?" Huh? "You wish to become Duel Champion, you wish for your perseverance and determination in your own approach to be recognized as best by all your peers, by as many people as possible; is not the world of that dream much much greater than this tiny place you call home, this Heartland City of yours?"

"I, I don't know, I don't think about it like that! And besides, saving the world, what the heck's supposed to be threatening it?" Yuma shook his head. "Whatever, you're just trying to confuse me, just trying to distract me from the fact that you kidnapped Akari! I'm ending my turn now but remember, you can't beat a Number without a Number, and if you try to target Number 74 again, you know how that's going to end for you!"

"Turn 5, Yuma Tsukumo: 3100 life points, Nubiti: 2600 life points."

"Indeed." Nubiti drew her card. "But as my line has waited more than three thousand years, I can wait one more turn; as you control a monster while I do not, I special summon Hieroglyphic Dragon – Tfeni Dragon from my hand in defense position, and then I banish Atumus and Seal of the Dragon King in my grave to special summon Hieroglyphic Dragon – Usir Dragon in attack position." Two stone tablets appeared, and two dragons emerged, one violet and coiled up on itself with 1400 defense power, the other bright green and drawn up high and aggressive with 2600 attack power. "I will set my card and I will learn the limit of your power and Astral's wisdom."

"Turn 6, Yuma Tsukumo: 3100 life points, Nubiti: 2600 life points."

Yuma growled as he drew his card. "Ha, you think I'm going to fall for that again?" Yuma looked over his hand. "You think I'm going to go and fall for bait that obvious?" Seriously, even he wouldn't summon a weaker monster in attack position without some way to make up the difference.

"Of course not, and that is her real trap." Astral said. "She knows that this is exactly like before and is counting on you to be aware of that; thus, you will attempt to attack her defense position monster first, and that is what her face-down card is keyed to react to."

"You really think so?" Yuma shook his head. "No, you're right, if I'd listened to you before, we wouldn't be in this mess, we'd be way further ahead than we are, you're right! I summon Dododo Warrior with 1800 attack points, and then I'm going to have Master of Blades attack and destroy Usir Dragon!" Master of Blades drew all its knives and threw them as a storm into Nubiti's monster.

"I now activate Usir Dragon's effect, and sacrifice Tfeni Dragon to prevent Usir Dragon's destruction." Tfeni Dragon vanished, the golden armor disintigrated before it had even hit the ground. "And as it was sacrificed, I now special summon Hieroglyphic Seal of the God Dragon in defense."

Yuma and Astral watched as the sky lit up again, as a new sun appeared over them, a golden sphere that radiated light from within despite that it was only a normal monster with zero attack and zero defense. "Yuma, destroy it!"

"Huh?"

"Now Yuma, before it's too late!" Astral was trembling!

"Dododo Warrior, attack the Hieroglyphic Seal of the God Dragon!" Yuma's monster hefted its axe, spun about, and threw it up into the sky where it cleaved through Nubiti's monster and the night returned. "Astral, are you okay?" He was still shaking. "It's gone now, you don't have to worry about it anymore."

"No, it is not gone, it is only resting for the time being; she can bring it or any of the others like it from her deck in an instant." Astral stilled himself and faced Yuma. "Under no circumstances can we allow Nubiti to keep that monster on the field, we will not be able to win if she does." The images flashed in Yuma's mind, the moment when she'd used the Seal of the Dragon King to Exceed Summon Atumus; what could she summon with the Seal of the God Dragon?

"Don't worry buddy, we're not going to let her." Yuma put his arm where Astral's shoulder was, careful to not pass through his body. He turned back to face his opponent. "I set one card and end my turn."

"Turn 7, Yuma Tsukumo: 3100 life points, Nubiti: 2200 life points."

Nubiti drew her card. "So, you have only come this far, even working with Astral to compensate for your weakness; you will not win this duel, Yuma Tsukumo."

"Hey, talk like that when you're winning, because last I checked I'm still ahead and I'm not giving up, and Astral's going to back me up every step of the way!"

"Indeed, you are a formidable opponent, one that I would never take lightly, but victory is still within the realm of my calculations."

"Is that so? Then I shall prove your folly with the strength granted to me by my ancestors; I activate Hieroglyphic Seal of Convocation to add a Hieroglyphic Dragon of my choice from my deck to my hand." Yuma stood his ground as the golden card flew into Nubiti's hand. "I summon Hieroglyphic Dragon – Dragon Giev," a golden humanoid dragon with heavy muscles, "and I sacrifice it to special summon Hieroglyphic Dragon – Dragon Nepthe from my hand and my second Hieroglyphic Seal of the God Dragon." Again the night was banished by the false sun humming in the sky, and below it appeared a purple serpentine dragon with 2000 attack points. "I activate Nepthe Dragon's effect and sacrifice the Seal of the God Dragon to destroy Number 74." The night fell upon them yet again.

"Not going to happen! I activate Master of Blade's effect and detach Gagaga Girl to negate your monster's effect and destroy it!" Yuma's monster took aim with its knives...

"And now I activate my trap card, Hieroglyphic Seal of Reflection." A seal like a mirror appeared in the air, drawing Nepthe Dragon and Master of Blades to either side of it. "When a spell, trap, or monster effect is activated, I sacrifice a Hieroglyphic Dragon to negate that effect and destroy it." Nepthe Dragon was absorbed by the seal, and it hammered down on Yuma's monster, breaking and battering until there was nothing left.

"Incredible, she thought this far ahead, she'd set that card on her previous turn in anticipation of this moment." Astral shivered. "Forgive me Yuma, I thought I'd realized how dangerous she was, but I was mistaken."

"H-hey, don't talk like that, we haven't lost yet."

"But as I said, you will lose." The day was back, a third Hieroglyphic Seal of the God Dragon was on the field, and even Yuma felt himself shaking the same as Astral. "Usir Dragon, attack and destroy Dododo Warrrior." Nubiti's monster opened its mouth, gathered the light from the Seal hanging over them all...

"Not yet I'm not! I activate my trap card Half Unbreak, preventing my monster's destruction and reducing battle damage by half!" Yuma braced himself as Usir Dragon's breath weapon spilled out all around Dododo Warrior and right into him, hammering his body again and again and again, but he wasn't going to fall, he still had life points, he still had cards left, Akari was counting on him.

"That tenacity, while useful, will prove insufficient on its own. You will see and understand, Yuma."

"Turn 8, Yuma Tsukumo: 2700 life points, Nubiti: 2200 life points."

Yuma held his hand over his deck. He held it there, breathing hard; one mistake, one false move, everything would be over. He could do it, couldn't he? Him and Astral, they were going to figure it out, right? "Yuma." Astral had his hand over Yuma's shoulder, returning the favor that Yuma had granted him before.

"Right." Yuma drew his card, believing that there was still that chance, they just had to take it! "All right!" Yuma had it, they could make it!

"Yes, just one more turn, and we can emerge victorious." He could see it in Astral's eyes, the path they were going to take.

"I summon Gogogo Giant, and then I activate Kagetokage's effect to special summon it to the field." Huge and hulking on the one hand, a slithering little thing along the ground on the other, but they were both level 4. "Now I overlay them and Exceed Summon Number 39, Aspiring Emperor Hope!" Again the Galaxy Spiral opened up for Yuma, and again a monster like no other appeared on the field to fight for him. "I'll switch Dododo Warrior to defense, and then I'll attack the Seal of the God Dragon with Hope!" The night was back, and with it his chance for victory, Nubiti wasn't going to get to do her next Exceed Summon, she wasn't going to get her chance to summon her Rank 8 monster. "I end my turn!"

"Turn 9, Yuma Tsukumo: 2700 life points, Nubiti: 2200 life points."

Nubiti drew her card. "It is over Yuma; you did about as well as could be expected at this point, but it was insufficient." Nubiti raised her card over her head. "I banish all three Hieroglyphic Seals of the God Dragon in my grave, all Normal Dragon-type monsters, to special summon Hieroglyphic Dragon – Setekh Dragon." Thick and brimming and bursting with golden light, the stone tablet shattered as Nubiti's next monster appeared, roaring with all the fury of its 2800 attack points. Even so, Hope's effect... "Now I activate Setekh Dragon's effect; once per turn, I banish a Dragon monster in my grave to destroy one card on the field."

"What?" Yuma's voice shrank almost into nothing. Nubiti's Setekh Dragon towered over him as it drew upon one of the dragons in her grave, which one he couldn't say, it didn't even matter; Hope, his last hope, Nubiti's monster swept through it with a brutal glowing claw and that was it. "No." He watched Usir Dragon unleash its power onto Dododo Warrior, leaving only ash behind, ash blown away by a cold wind. "No, no, this can't be..." He looked up, saw Setekh Dragon hovering over him, looking down on him, he shrank down before it. "Please, please don't..." Akari, where was she? He hadn't even found out, he didn't even know, he couldn't even apologize, there had to be something, anything, anything! "Stop! I beg of you, please stop, please don't do this!"

"Setekh Dragon, attack directly." Yuma felt nothing, he was numb all over as Setekh Dragon's breath washed over him and wiped out all of his life points. Everything dropped as Yuma fell to his knees, everything blurred as tears covered his eyes, everything was cold as his heart stopped in his chest. Sound was distant and tinny as Nubiti walked up to him.

"Why?" Snot was dribbling down from his nose, tears came down in ugly globs. "Why didn't you stop? Why...just because I lost, that means that Akari..."

"You now understand reality Yuma, you have learned the lesson that my family has lived with for over three thousand years; desire by itself is meaningless, the deepest and fondest wishes of the heart are worthless on their own; only through power, wisdom, and the will to sacrifice can such things as hope be achieved."

"Fine!" Yuma's voice was a wretched thing, cracking and choking. "Then I'll sacrifice the Emperor's Key!" He tore the pendent off from his neck, snapping the cord. "I need this for your contract right? Then, if I give it up, if I give it to you, that means the contract is over right? And, and if it's over, that means everything has to go back to normal, right? And, and it can't be normal without Akari, it just can't be, so give her back, please!"

"...You would give up everything, you would give up all possibility of your dreams coming true, just to see her again? You would betray Astral in this manner?"

"No dream is worth giving up my sister." Yuma looked up at Astral. "Akari, she's been taking care of me ever since my Mom and Dad disappeared, her and Grandma both, and, and even though I could be a total pain and I'd break the rules, she just...I can't even...if you had a sister you'd understand!" Yuma looked at Nubiti and clutched the hem of her robes. "I'll do anything, anything you want, just please, let her go, don't hurt her because I'd messed up, she's never done anything wrong, not ever! You can even take me if you want, just so long as you let her go, let her be free again..."

Nubiti looked down at him with an unmoved expression, she didn't say a word. Yuma let go and curled up, he cried and cried and cried and cried. "Yuma!" Huh? "Yuma, what happened, are you all right?" That, it couldn't be. "Yuma, are you okay? Look at me." He felt her hand, and when he looked up, he saw her there.

"Akari!" He grabbed onto her so tight, he wasn't ever letting go, not ever again! "Akari, you're back! You're back!"

"As I'd suspected; all we needed was to duel her, Nubiti never said that we had to win for Akari to come back." Yuma didn't hear Astral, all he heard was Akari.

"Whoa, what's going on here Yuma?" She pushed him back a little, though he kept his grip strong, he wasn't taking any chances, not now. "I haven't been gone that long."

Yuma shook his head. "Maybe it wasn't that long to you, but this whole week...this week felt like..." Yuma pressed back into her.

"A week? Yuma, it's been an hour at most."

"The boy is correct." Nubiti spoke, and it seemed like Akari only just noticed that she'd been there.

"Wait, you were the source on that tip, weren't you? Yeah, I recognize your voice, and what do you mean it's been a week? There's no way I could have lost track of time that badly."

"You didn't, or rather, your sense of your personal time was accurate. However, where you were, time passed differently, much more slowly as compared to the material world."

"...You knew that, when you told me about the portal that was here, didn't you?" Akari gently pushed Yuma off, gently put him down on the ground, gently rubbed his head. She stood up, faced Nubiti, and punched her in the face so hard that she'd sent her flying, landing sidelong into the ground. Akari drew her fist back, looked down at Nubiti. "You didn't even try to dodge that."

"I had accepted your retribution from the outset." Nubiti stood up and returned Akari's glare. "I prepared myself accordingly; pray that I do not find cause to do so again."

"You listen here, you mess with my family again, you think of putting Yuma through anything like this again, and there's no way you could ever be prepared to accept my retribution." Akari raised her fist again.

"No, it's not like that Akari." Yuma said, still wiping the tears and snot from his face, only now aware of the sopping mess he'd made of Akari's coat. "I, this is all my fault, if I hadn't made that stupid contract, none of this would be happening."

"Contract?" Akari glanced at him, looked back at Nubiti. "What is he talking about? When the hell did you get anywhere near him? Answer me!"

"It would be best for him to explain to you directly. All I will say is this; it is all connected with what you have just learned."

"Huh? What are you...you mean...?!" Nubiti was gone, she was just...one moment there, the next, not. "Damn it, who the hell was that anyway?" Akari rubbed her head, then returned to Yuma, crouched down onto her haunches to look him in the eye. "So, I was gone a whole week huh? I bet you were real scared weren't you?"

There was that part of Yuma that wanted to say of course he wasn't, he knew everything was going to be all right, he was doing everything he could to find her without fear. "Yeah, I was." He reached for her again. "You really are here, right? I'm not imagining any of this, am I?" She gave him a crooked smile and jabbed him in the arm, much much lighter than what she'd done to Nubiti. "Yep, definitely real." Yuma fell onto Akari's shoulder.

"Hoo boy." Akari sat next to Yuma. "I swear, sometimes you really are still a little baby kid aren't you?" She rubbed his head. "I suppose for now I can let this slide, but when we get back home, you're explaining everything kiddo, and I mean everything; you leave out even one measly little detail and I'm going to make you wish I hadn't come back."

"Ha, sorry about that Akari, but there's nothing, and I mean nothing you can do that would ever make me wish for anything like that." Yuma laughed, and for all that it was a broken and harsh sounding thing after all the sobbing and wailing and blowing of his nose, it was still honest and the first time he'd been able to do so, seemingly as far back as he could remember in that moment.

His D-Gazer beeped loudly. Yuma wanted to ignore it, but Akari had heard it too, and the look on her face said she was not going let him get away with that. "Hello?" Yuma hoped it was no one important so he could just tell them buzz off.

"Yuma, where on Earth are you!?" Grandma Haru!

"Um, I'm at the old park on top of the hills and, and, I've found Akari."

"...You have?" He'd never heard his Grandma sound like that before. "Do you really mean that?"

"Yeah, he's telling the truth Grandma." Akari had joined in, activated her D-Gazer. "Sorry for the scare I put you guys through."

"You better believe you're sorry young lady! You've put an awful lot of people through terrible distress because of your reckless..." She sighed. "So you better hurry on home so you can start properly explaining yourself, and you make sure Yuma doesn't wander off alone, you got that?"

"Right, sure thing Grandma, we'll be home right away. See you then." Akari hung up, and then she stood up, picking Yuma up as she did before depositing him onto his feet. "So, can I trust you to walk on your own, or am I going to have to carry you piggyback all the way back home?"

"C-come on, I've been too big for that for a long time now." Yuma pouted as he looked away.

"Good, 'cause I'm not in the mood to carry you; now come on Yuma, no time like the present." Akari stretched before walking off down the steep hill, and Yuma walked after her, careful never to lose sight of her.


	8. Chapter 8

Discovery

* * *

"Akari, thank goodness you're back!" Akari dropped to her knees to receive Grandma Haru's embrace, and though her arms were small, Yuma could see the power with which she'd held on to her only granddaughter.

"Yuma!" Yuma teetered on his feet as Kotori slammed into him, but he regained his balance.

"We came as soon as we heard." Tetsuo said, following behind Kotori. "You're uh, you're kind of crushing him Kotori."

"I am not!" Kotori released Yuma anyway, and he tried not to breathe in too loudly. "I'm just happy for Yuma, that's all." She turned back to Yuma. "I really am Yuma, you're really lucky you got Akari back."

"Don't I know it." Yuma looked over at Astral.

"Had Nubiti chosen, we would have lost everything." Yes, they would, and it was even worse than that.

"Oh, Akari." Grandma Haru had finally let go of Akari. "Where on Earth have you been all this time?" Her voice took a turn for the stern. "You better have a good explanation for all that you've put all of us through."

"Oh, believe you me, have I got the story of a lifetime for you." Akari stood back up. "And Yuma here knows a big chunk of it, am I right?" Yuma nodded. "So why don't we all get some seats, because this is going to take a while." Yuma and the others followed Akari into the living room where they each took their seats, Yuma next to Akari, Kotori and Tetsuo together, and Grandma Haru in between them. "Okay, the first thing you all need to understand is that for me I was only gone for a little over an hour, and before you say anything, put on your D-Gazers." They did, and two AR clocks appeared in front of them. "As you can see, my system's time is way off from yours, but there's no discontinuity, no disruption, no tampering or anything like that; as far as my D-Gazer and D-Pad are concerned, this whole week hasn't even happened yet."

"Whoa." Tetsuo said. "So, what, did you travel through time or something?"

"Something like that, but I'll just start at the beginning and see what you guys can make of it."

* * *

Akari had been leaning back in her chair in front her computer when she'd gotten the call. She had checked the number of course, she didn't recognize it, but it hadn't looked like it was a telemarketer or anything like that. "Hello, Akari Tsukumo, Ace Reporter." She idly twirled a pen in one hand, tapped on the arm rest of her chair with the other. "How can I help you?"

"All I need is for you to come to this location." A file appeared before Akari, she checked and scanned it, there weren't any viruses, and when she opened it a map appeared, directing her to an old park on top of a hill; Akari tried to recall if she'd ever been there before, but what she did know was that no one had been there in a long, long time. "If you come here, you will discover something that none of your peers could even imagine."

"What exactly are we talking about here? And who is this anyway?" It sounded like a woman, but of course you couldn't just go and assume that sort of thing. "How should I address you?"

"I wish to remain anonymous." Fair enough, she'd had loads of informants who didn't want anyone knowing who they were, didn't want anyone knowing just who it was that had leaked this or that to her. "What I am talking about is what lies behind the veil that covers this entire city."

Akari leaned forward, planted her feet on the ground. "Go on."

"You've encountered censorship, you've had various stories edited without your awareness or consent, but you've never the rhyme or reason connecting why; what lies here is the first piece that will lead you to the answers that you desire."

"Heh, you've done your homework on me, haven't you?"

"You are the youngest reporter in Heartland City, and have already won several awards for your work; you seem to me the best equipped to make use of the information that I have."

"Hmmm..." Akari stroked her chin. "Tempting, but I'm going to need some assurance that this lead of yours is any good."

"You want to know that you can trust me." There was a pause on the other end of the line. "I will share this with you." A file appeared on her computer's screen, she checked it, opened it.

Akari blinked in shock; it was data concerning the corrupt practices at one of the largest electronics firms in Heartland City, the one that had just had some trouble with its network. There were names and dates and everything, she could take down practically everyone in management with this intel. "How did you get all this?"

"I was curious." The tone with which the informant spoke, the information that Akari had just gotten was nothing compared to what awaited her. "Now then, time is short, the lead here will not remain for long, so if you are to investigate..."

"I got it, I got it, I'll be there in just a bit." It really wasn't far, she could get there on foot in no time at all and doing it like that would help her to avoid being spotted by anyone looking to snatch her scoop away from her. "Just got one thing to take care of before I go."

"That is acceptable." Whoever it was had disconnected, so Akari grabbed her things, went up to the attic where Yuma slept instead of his own room, and let him know that she was taking off; the way he mumbled in his sleep, you'd never knew he could be such a mouthy little brat, but Akari was fine with that, she gave better than she got, every time.

Akari slipped out of her home, avoiding even the Obots as she made her way to the hill, nothing and no one was going to see where she'd gone until she'd completed her investigation and was ready to return with an article that no one, not even Mr. Heartland himself could possibly block. Visions danced in Akari's eyes as she climbed up that hill, wonderings and musings at just could possibly be awaiting her at the peak.

"Huh?" Akari crested the top and looked around, saw an overgrown path and old playground equipment, but there was no one and nothing there. "Seriously?" Sure, it wasn't like she'd gotten nothing out of the deal, but damn if that wasn't going through a hell of a lot to send her off on a wild goose chase...and you'd think if someone was going to go through that trouble, they'd want to be there to see the look on her face, and it wasn't like there was anywhere to hide...then again, a camera could easily be hidden somewhere, and that would be a lot safer for anyone who'd do something like this. And of course, anyone who would do something like this would know to have a stealth program so she couldn't just use her D-Gazer to find it. "That's all right." Akari Tsukumo had never had a problem getting her hands dirty before, and she wasn't having that problem now.

Akari cracked her knuckles and got down to brass tacks, searching anywhere a tiny little camera could be hidden. She turned over stones and pulled vines out of the way, and then something glinted in the corner of her eye. "Ah ha." She turned and stepped towards the camera had to be. "Huh?" Everything was different, the path was clean and well kept and the playground equipment was shiny and new all over again. "What the?" She looked up and saw the sky, but the stars were all wrong, they weren't in the right plances and they were way too big, like that one painting, what was it called again? Didn't matter, she had to figure out where she was and how the hell she'd gotten there.

"Do you know? Do you know?" Akari turned around and saw a young girl...no, three young girls walking on the path. "Do you know? Do you know?"

"Do I know what?" She watched them closely as they walked closer and closer to her, and then they were gone...and then they were back again! The way they'd disappeared and the way they'd come back, it was like, it was as though they were completely flat, two-dimensional so that when they were right in front of her there was nothing she could see.

"Do you know? Do you know?" No, she did not, and she wasn't going to find out anything from them, save that she wasn't anywhere on Earth. She turned on her D-Gazer so it could start recording everything she was seeing, only to be hit by a blanket of static and white noise that threatened to suffocate her. She turned her D-Gazer off. She took another look around, focusing on what should have been Heartland City down below. It was and it wasn't Heartland City, the general shape of it was right, but the buildings themselves, some of them weren't there, others weren't finished, and others still were bigger and more outlandish than even Heartland Tower itself...and speaking of, she only recognized it when she realized that the biggest star of all was just the peak of a Heartland Tower that was blending in with the sky itself.

"Okay, this is saying something about Heartland City all right, but what?" Akari stroked her chin and took another look at the girls walking the path, and they just kept repeating their question over and over again, asking nothing and no one in particular. It reminded Akari of nothing so much as a glitched program, like something stuck on a loop and nothing you did could get you out of it, short of shutting the whole thing down and turning it back on again; what that would mean with this, Akari had no idea and she wasn't going to take that risk, not yet anyway.

For now, she was going to check out the area that best matched up with home, see what that looked like in this weird-ass place she was in. So she made her way to the edge of the hill, and when she stepped down, she slipped all the way down to the bottom, getting a rough landing for her trouble. "First step's a doozy, doozy on the step first!" She looked up and saw a vaguely familiar green bird, only its wings were separate from the rest of its body.

"Hilarious." Akari rubbed herself, she was a bit sore for the moment but she knew it would pass. She walked on down the road, taking in all the strange and bizarre sights around her; trees that weren't rooted in the ground, clouds that were raining up into the sky, patches of the ground that were just plain missing, and most of all, anything living was like what she'd encountered at the hill, bizarre and twisted and impossible to communicate with. "Okay, let's focus on what I can understand; there's still oxygen in this place, and there's still gravity, so thre's still a trace of reason keeping this all together, and that reason means that there's something I can make sense of out here."

An unearthly roar echoed from over the horizon, Akari turned in place and looked up and gaped; there were red stars in the sky, proper ones, ones that hadn't been there before, and if she'd been standing in the real world, she'd be looking towards Neo-Domino City. "The Crimson Dragon..." She'd heard of it of course, the god that had been born in Neo-Domino City, born by the power of the Signers, but to actually see it herself... "Is this...am I in the Spirit World?" That's what she was going to call it anyway, pending new information that would revise her understanding of where she was. "This is as behind the veil as it gets I guess."

Akari continued to walk along, noting down every bizarre spectacle before her, when she came upon a massive crater. "Oh, this isn't ominous at all." Akari said in a dead voice as she looked down at the desolate ruin of her home, everything flattened like a pancake by the giant meteorite dead center in the crater. She took a few deep breaths, gave a light slap to her own face. "Okay." She made her way down the crater, making sure she had stable footing every step of the way, and after a while she reached the meteorite; like almost everything else, it made no sense to look at, chunks of it extending out here and there in the air, seemingly unconnected to the whole, and that was just to start; there were chunks that looked like they were made of fur or scales or even skin, the skin was at least far out of reach, and then there were bits of it that were glowing and flowing, like streaming bits of code. She got close enough to touch, but did no such thing. She circled around the meteorite, and stopped when she saw that it had been carved into.

It was her mother's and father's initials. She reached out to touch it, the meteorite was warm but did not yield. "Is this it?" She shook her head. "There's got to be more." Maybe if it had just been her father, but there's no way her mother would let him get away with something like that. "Come on, come on..." She looked around the meteorite, hoping that the rest of the carved message had just been moved, and sure enough she found more carving about 45 degrees off from the initials and much higher up, forcing her to climb up on it to properly read it. "Whichever one of you finds this," and though she couldn't tell which of them had written that part, Akari heard it in her father's voice, ", know that we've never been scared of omens before", the last part in her mother's voice.

Akari dropped back onto the ground on her feet. She looked down and found a hammer and chisel, her father's. She picked them up and went back to where the initials were, and it took a while, sure, but she'd managed to get that chunk separated from the rest...and she got to watch something ooze out of the meteorite and fill in the gap and turn into rock. She double-checked what she had, but it was the same as before. She stored it away and climbed back up out of the crater. She looked back where she'd come from, and saw a light hanging over the hill that hadn't been there before. "Any luck, that's a way back out of here."

So she ran back to the hill and climbed back up, taking care that she didn't lose the rock, and when she reached the top of the hill, she saw two sources of light; one was a shimmering pattern like a waterfall in the middle of the air, and the other...it was the weirdest spirit yet, it was made up of a whole bunch of different thinks hooking together, and somehow it seemed like it was all shaped like a child, maybe around Yuma's age?

"Why?!" A wretched cracking voice sounded from the other side of the shimmering waterfall.

"Yuma!" Akari ran through the waterfall and found herself right back where she'd started, and there was Yuma, curled up and sobbing his heart out. "Yuma!"

* * *

"...And that covers everything that happened to me." Akari said. She'd brought out the stone she'd carved out from the meteorite, which Grandma Haru continued to examine. Yuma could hardly grasp it; while he'd been busy running himself ragged, she'd managed to find something, a clue about their parents. "Now then, Yuma." He gulped as Akari looked him in the eye from where she was sitting. "Who was that person you were dueling? And what did you mean by a Contract anyway?" Akari narrowed her eyes. "I'm going to guess that it has to do with The Emperor's Key getting fixed all on its own, and the weird stuff that you've been getting caught up with lately."

"Yeah, you're right on the money with that one." Yuma laughed. He explained everything, he started with the dream he'd been having over and over again, his encounter with Shark and how he broke The Emperor's Key, and then Yuma's dream had changed and he'd made the contract so that the key would be fixed, figuring that whatever the voice had been talking about, he'd be able to handle it no problem. Then he dueled Shark, then Shark was possessed by the Numbers... "And that's when Astral appeared." Yuma looked at the spirit who was floating over all of them. "He, well, he's the reason I've been winning all my duels lately, and he's the one who told me I had to get all the Numbers, those cards, they're his memories or something." He told them about Fuya, and Izumi and Chinira, Professor Ukyo and even that guy Shichiro Mashima. "All of them were possessed by the Numbers, all this bad stuff that's been going on, it's all my fault, all because I was trying to play hero when I didn't have a clue." And so he told everyone about Nubiti, how she'd contacted him, defeated him.

"...Yuma." Grandma Haru looked up from the carved stone in her hands. "Can you have Astral show us those Number cards you were talking about?" Yuma looked up at Astral; Astral nodded and Yuma saw the cards clatter onto the table. "Good, thank you Astral." Grandma Haru said, facing the direction where Yuma had been looking, only off by a few centimeters or so. "Now then, there's something I want to check." She put on her D-Gazer and turned it on. "So I was right." She looked up. "Everyone, put on your D-Gazers and look at these cards and the rock together."

Yuma did as told, as did Akari and Kotori and Tetsuo too. He looked through the colored lenses a moment, wondered just what it was he was supposed to be seeing...wait! There was...the rock was glowing, and the cards were glowing too, the same shade and intensity and everything! "And that rock, the meteorite had to have been there back when Mom and Dad first disappeared." Akari looked

"So, wait, that means that, um..." Yuma wracked his head but after everything he'd been through, he wasn't exactly in great shape for this sort of thought.

"It means that this is all connected with why our parents left Yuma." Akari said, picking the rock back up. "You making that contract with Nubiti, it's just one small part of the bigger picture, and if what I saw in that place was any indication, there's been something really messed up about Heartland City for a long time."

"You think so?" Yuma gasped. "That's what Nubiti was saying! Something about the world needing to be saved, and me gathering the Numbers and making Astral complete was the only way. You don't, you don't think that she might know what happened to Mom and Dad, do you?"

"I wouldn't doubt it." Akari said. "But until she decides to show herself to us again, we're going to have to explore other leads, like finding out more about this chunk of rock." Akari breathed in through her nose. "Of course, that's going to have to wait; right now I've got to work on my cover story for where I've been for the last week." Akari yawned. "Yeesh, this must be what jet lag feels like."

"You go get your rest dearie, let me work out what we're going to tell everyone."

"Ah," Akari yawned again, "thanks Grandma, you're the best." Akari got up with Grandma Haru, and they walked off together to Akari's room, leaving Yuma alone with his friends.

"So, this is what's been really going on, huh?" Tetsuo said, arms crossed. Yuma nodded. "Can't believe you tried to keep something this big secret all on your own; you know how much you suck at keeping secrets, right?" Yuma nodded again.

"But it's okay now, 'cause now we all know, right?" Kotori said. "And since we know, can you let Astral know that I appreciate him looking out for you all this time?"

Yuma cracked a smile. "Come on, he's been listening in this whole time, I'm pretty sure he heard that, right Astral?" Yuma looked up at the spirit.

"Indeed, but she understands that she doesn't know the extent of my awareness, so I appreciate her asking." Yuma rolled his eyes. "Let her know that I am grateful for her appreciation, and in turn appreciate the support she offers you."

Yuma turned back to Kotori. "Yeah, Astral says that, uh, he thanks you do a great job supporting me too."

"Heh, looks like Yuma's finally getting a clue." Tetsuo smirked. Yuma glowered at him.

"Hey, that was Astral, Astral you got that? I'm just like his, I don't know, his translator or whatever!"

"Anyway." Kotori said. "Yuma, since we all know what's going on now, we're all in this together, you got that?"

"I guess...?"

"So what I'm thinking is that you and Tetsuo and me, we're going to form a club for hunting down the Numbers, the Super Secret Number Card Investigation Club."

"..." Yuma and Tetsuo stared at Kotori.

"Fine, it'll just be the Numbers Club." Kotori muttered something under her breath.

"Um, Kotori, you do remember what happened to Rio when she dueled that Number, right?" Tetsuo said.

"Right, so we know to make sure you're there to get the Number before anything bad happens; I'm just saying that there's going to be opponents that other people like Tetsuo will be better equipped to handle, and I'll be looking for them to recruit to help you out."

"You sure about that Kotori?" Yuma scratched his head. "Getting more people involved in all this...wouldn't it be easier for you to start dueling?"

"Not a chance Yuma, I know where my talents lie." She said in a huffy tone. "Well?"

"I don't suppose I'm going to be able to talk either of you guys out of this, am I?"

"Sorry Yuma, but the first time you run off on your own...well, with just Astral, I think that speaks for itself." Tetsuo looked over Yuma's shoulder, the wrong one if he was trying to look at Astral.

"All right, all right, you'll get your chance to show off for Astral." Astral tilted his head while Tetsuo frowned. "What, you mean I don't get to make fun of you?"

"Eh, I'll let it slide just this once."

"Good." Yuma said, and now he yawned.

"All right, you've had a very long day Yuma." Grandma Haru came back into the room. "Off to bed with you, right now."

"Yes!" Yuma stood up. "So, I guess I'll see you guys at school tomorrow?"

"Yep." Kotori bobbed on on her feet a bit. "And you'll be doing a whole lot better now, right?"

"Yeah." Yuma's head got light. "I will, won't I?" He was being wrapped up in something soft, real soft, it made it hard to think, and Yuma was being pulled along by a small but powerful hand, and before he knew it was up in his bed, snoring away.

* * *

**Author's Notes:** To the guest reviewer who would like me to have a character using a photon/galaxy deck, I'm afraid you're going to be sorely disappointed; as far as I'm concerned those cards got plenty of play in the anime, so I want to focus on cards that didn't get shown much or at all, Yuma's own cards being an exception to this general rule. Furthermore, I won't be using any of the Arclight archetypes either; as for their Numbers, I will likely end up creating new Numbers to take their place, but that's likely going to be near the end when I've already used up all the other Numbers available to me.

Finally, to the guest reviewer who wants me to update soon, I appreciate your enthusiasm but I will remind you that things can be pretty hectic for me in real life and so I can't always devote the time and energy I want to this story; one thing that can help are more detailed reviews concerning what you liked, what didn't work for you, and things you'd be interested in seeing in the story.


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